NO BRAIN NO GAIN
Joshua insists mastering the mind will help him box clever in crunch clash with Usyk
Anthony Joshua wants to twist Oleksandr Usyk’s melon in north London on Saturday night after shaping his own brain with some mind-bending training practices.
The Brit puts his WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles on the line against the former undisputed cruiserweight champ at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
And Joshua said: “During the pandemic, the basic necessities were perfect for me.
“I learned that I like basic things, I don’t need a lot to make me happy.
“I also learned about the power of the brain.
“Our brain is basically like plastic, forever changing, brain cells dying and developing new ones. So you can actually train yourself and tell yourself who you are and who you’d like to be.
“I’ve learned the power of deep practice. I am training on the edge to put in a defining performance on Saturday and beyond.
“It’s all boxing-related because that’s what I dedicate myself to. But it’s not just training to get fit, it’s about training to get better and finding out who you are.
“I have looked at the attributes, the feet positioning, the hand positioning, feints, the controls, the defining performances, not the defining fights.
“All of these kind of things make a good fighter, it’s not just about being the big man.
“I have thrown myself into improving at a deeper level because if it was just about being big then I’d go in that ring and knock him out in 20 seconds.
“The first punch and every opponent should drop. But what I realised over the years is that it’s not about that, it’s about angles, timing, concentration, setting punches up, understanding what is coming back and outclassing an opponent in all those different departments.
“If you follow you As, Bs and Cs it leads to your KOs.”
Part of his new routines saw Joshua sparring pretty much with one hand tied behind his back.
He added: “I was only allowed to use my left hand. It was really challenging against a southpaw who could do whatever he wanted, and that was hard.
“It was a deep practice but I could not use my sizeize or power. Putt ttinging yourself in those hose vulnerable situatuations brings thethe best out of you.” u.”
The smaa r t money is on Joshua given his size and the fact ct that Usyk is s not a natural l heavyweight.
But there is no doubting the Ukrainian star’s technical ability and Joshua knows he cannot underestimate a man who one former opponent, Tony Bellew, says is the best boxer he will face.
Joshua said: “Bellew rates Usyk a lot and Usyk is a good fighter. “As we know, he comes from a good pedigree – Wladimir Klitschko, Vitali Klitschko, Vasiliy Lomachenko, ‘Papachenko’.Pap
“He was the world cchampion in Baku, an OOlympic gold memedallist.
“But I can fighfight, that is for sure.sur I’ve been here,here stayed here. “If it was just aboutabou size, I would not be motivated to get outou of bed, to train, to put the yards in, and do it again in the morning.”