ANTHONY JOSHUA has been urged to ditch his hulking body if he wants to win his crunch rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.
The Watford warrior will bid to reclaim the unified heavyweight titles from the slick southpaw in a high-stakes Saudi showdown next month.
Anthony Joshua will rematch Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia in August Credit: PA
Joshua was huffing and puffing in the closing stages of his Tottenham tussle with the Ukrainian last September Credit: GETTY
AJ has been urged to trim down for his Saudi showdown with the slick southpaw Credit: PA
Former light-heavyweight king Andre Ward has urged AJ to ditch some of his muscle Credit: Getty Joshua, 32, tired in the closing stages of his lopsided points defeat to the undefeated Ukrainian at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last September and was almost stopped in the final round.
And former two-weight world champion Andre Ward believes the burly Brit should burn through some of his bulging muscles to avoid huffing and puffing in the decisive desert dust-up.
He said: “Man I’ve been trying to tell Anthony Joshua for the past six or seven years – get the mass off.
“Then you’ll feel faster, you’ll want to throw more punches and you won’t hit that wall midway in the fight where that blood fills up in your muscles and you can’t get the shots off.”
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Date & live stream details for massive heavyweight rematch in Saudi Arabia Joshua drastically trimmed down for his 2019 rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr and became a two-time heavyweight title with a boxing masterclass.
But the Brit – who has teamed up with American coach Robert Garcia – has shown no sign of slimming down for Saudi slugfest.
During an appearance on Max on Boxing, Ward said: “This is tough, I feel like Anthony Joshua is always this moving target, you know psychologically where is he at?
“Stylistically where is he at? Is he putting on more muscle mass, taking muscle off?
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“All these variables sort of answer that question and we don’t have that answer.”
Victory over Usyk will see AJ become a three-time heavyweight champion, although he doesn’t plan on holding the belts aloft for too long after the fight.
He told JD Sports: “I feel like I’m not getting looked at as someone who is a dominant heavyweight in the division.
“This big Anthony Joshua goes and wins, becomes three-time, I’mma dash these belts.
“Because you’ve gotta learn to respect me as a person. Quote that.
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I got a lip flip with botox – no one warned me how difficult it would make life “I’m tired, I don’t want to be respected because of the belts I hold.
“I wanna be respected because of the man you see.”
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Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
