Joshua puts his weight behind Dubai’s fitness drive
DUBAI: British boxer Anthony Joshua followed in the footsteps of golfers Tiger Woods, Rory Mcilroy and tennis stars Roger Federer and Andre Agassi as he entered the world’s highest boxing ring with Sebastian Eubank on the iconic helipad of the Burj Al Arab in Dubai.
Joshua put his weight behind Dubai’s drive to become the most active city in the world, as he took part in a vigorous training session with Eubank.
“With the launch of the Dubai Fitness Challenge, we aim to become the most active city in the world, motivating everyone across all ages, and fitness levels, to start with small steps that will benefit them and their families. We want everyone to join this inclusive initiative,” Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing said.
The Dubai Fitness Challenge was launched earlier this month with the aim to encourage Dubai’s citizens and residents to embrace a more active lifestyle and take advantage of the huge range of sporting facilities across the city
CHARR HUNTS TITLE
Despite being shot in the stomach and having a double hip-replacement operation in the last two years, Germany’s Manuel Charr is determined to become a world heavyweight champion on Saturday.
Charr, 33, faces 40-year-old giant Russian Alexander Ustinov in Oberhausen and is adamant he will leave the ring with the vacant WBA world heavyweight belt.
Britain’s Anthony Joshua is the reigning WBA ‘Super’ heavyweight champion, meaning that this fight is effectively for a secondary world title.
“I’m going to be world champion — that’s a promise,” Charr said at the pre-fight press conference, having won 30 of his bouts with four defeats.
His most famous clash was in 2012 when he was stopped by EXWBC champion Vitali Klitschko in the fourth round of his only previous world title fight.
The Beirut-born fighter, who was brought up in Berlin and Essen, has suffered recent setbacks which could have ended the career of a less-determined boxer.
In September 2015, he was left fighting for his life after being shot in the stomach following an altercation at a kebab restaurant in Essen.
Charr returned to the ring just seven months later, bearing the scars of the attack on his abdomen.
“It was said at the time that I’d never box again,” he said.
Then came another setback earlier this year when both hips were replaced.
“The doctors diagnosed congenital hip dysplasia -- I had the mobility in the joints of an 80-year-old,” he said.
But now all that stands in his way of becoming a world champion is Alexander ‘The Great’ Ustinov.
The nickname refers to Ustinov’s size as much as his wins, with 25 knockouts in 34 victories against just one loss, when he was beaten by Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev in 2012.
At 2.02 metres tall (six foot, seven and a half inches) and weighing 136 kilos (21st, 5lbs), the Russian is 10cm taller and considerably heavier than his opponent.
Charr has described Ustinov as the ‘bear’ he will hunt in the ring come Saturday.
“I do not know fear -- fear is a feeling and I can control that,” said Charr.