EYES WIDE OPEN

Later starts work for Joshua

ANTHONY JOSHUA is sleeping his way to the top. The heavyweight world champion revealed he has been instructed by sport scientists to spend more time in bed during his training for Saturday’s Wembley showdown against Alexander Povetkin.

The shift in his usual fight preparations came after experts told him on a visit to the Under Armour research lab in May that he was wasting his energy with early morning sessions.

Having won all 21 of his fights to date, his next assignment, which is viewed by Joshua’s team with a heightened level of anxiety, has been approached with a new routine based on later starts.

Joshua (above) explained: ‘Cristiano Ronaldo did a body test recently and he is 33 but has the body of a 21-year-old. You have to preserve your body.

‘We have been looking at stuff like sleeping, the amount of time we spend on our phones, what pressure you put on your eyes — your eyes have muscles. It is about wellness and how you’re feeling, knowing to ease it off before you crash.

‘The sleeping is interesting. In the past you used to train, go do your work, then train after, so you had to wake up at 5am to be done at 7am. Luckily we are in a position that this is our full-time job but it’s a bit weird because boxing is old school (so fighters still train early).

‘When I watched a Manny Pacquiao documentary he gets up when he’s ready. Floyd Mayweather trains when he is ready.

‘I actually saw “10.34am” on a clock when he (Pacquiao) was waking up and I was like, “What the **** ? 10.34 and I’m here getting up at the crack of dawn?” I rewound it to watch it again.

‘I tried it and feel much better — 8am is my natural time to wake up. It looks lazy but you’re still getting the same amount of work done and in a better way.’