OLEKSANDR USYK has fighting in his DNA, so laughs off the idea that Anthony Joshua’s 11 months studying the sweet science will be enough to beat him.
The 35-year-old Ukraine icon’s childhood dream of being a theatre star drew its fair share of wannabe bullies, meaning Usyk went into his 350-bout amateur career with guts as well as guile.
When the first bombs dropped on his country in the last days of February, he rushed home from London and had a machine gun over his hulking shoulder within days.
Usyk reckons his desire to fight — while still being a devout Christian, a doting daddy and adoring husband — is ordained by God.
And nothing Watford’s AJ has worked on with new trainer Robert Garcia since Usyk wrenched away his WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight crowns last September, can conquer the Cossack warrior.
Usyk, flanked by a stuffed Disney donkey but speaking with all the menace of a Hollywood horror villain, growled: “I was born to fight.
READ MORE IN BOXING
FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS – BEST NEW CUSTOMER OFFERS
“But everybody was born for a reason. If I was born to fight, then you guys were born to tell these sports stories and explain us fighters to the world.
“My promoter, Alex, was born to be my promoter, to guide my career — and be my translator while I study English!
“Everyone was born for a reason, people who do not realise that often make mistakes in their lives. Each of us was born to fight for something.”
Joshua was definitely a streetfighter in his youth, with the scars on his callous-covered hands and a spell on remand in Reading prison to prove it.
🥊AJ vs Usyk 2 confirmed fight time, TV and live stream info for Saturday’s blockbuster
Most read in Boxing
When he walked into Finchley ABC aged 18, he turned his life around and became the boxer that revolutionised the sport for Great Britain.
Joshua ended his decade-long association with Team GB staff for this Jeddah rematch, axed his most recent cautious points-scoring tactics and hired a Mexican-American trainer famed for a high-pressure, dog-fight style.
But when we relay all this to Usyk, he dismisses us with a sociology lesson.
The champ declared: “Frankly, I don’t care much about what he does.
“It’s up to him to decide what to learn, what to study, how to behave. I’m doing my job, I’m not even trying to think about his.
“This is not the type of information I really require. What I do require is the data from my team, from people we are working on, everything else is not helpful.
“Many people absorb information that is useless, that they have no idea how to use properly in their lives.
“According to my experience, this is just dirt, crap that remains in our heads and doesn’t help us to develop.
“It just stays there and keeps the space. Instagram, TikTok, all those social media, they are to make people stupid. They don’t want to read books, history or literature. They don’t want to fill their brains with knowledge that’s going to be useful for them.”
What was useful for the Crimea-born father-of-three, in his Dubai training camp, was training to the brink of collapse and sparring giants who towered over him and carried the power to concuss a smaller man.
Team Usyk rotated these paid assailants one round at a time to keep them as fresh as possible as they tried to punch the former cruiserweight king into orbit.
He joked: “It felt to me that during this preparation I made a trip to see Elon Musk maybe four or five times. Sometimes it was really difficult for me.
“When I had a break between rounds, I was thinking, ‘What the hell am I doing? What do I need this for?’ I answered myself, ‘Because you keep working. That was your choice. So, go ahead’.”
And what of Team Joshua’s claim that they found a whopping 13 sparring partners ideal for imitating the 6ft 3in southpaw who moves like a mercurial welterweight, hits from the obscurest of angles and plays cruel mind games better than a Love Island menace?
It’s true I have put on weight. I am going to walk into the middle of the ring and look for the stoppage.
Oleksandr Usyk
Usyk added: “I agree with you that I might be the hardest boxer for anyone to find sparring for.
“It might seem a bit complicated to fight a southpaw who moves a lot and who behaves the way I do.
“If I were in his shoes I would probably be searching more among the amateurs, watching their fights, not just in heavyweights but in different divisions, just to work on special things, special tricks, to work with a southpaw.”
And what of Usyk’s stony-faced promise that he has bulked up on his previous career-heaviest weight of 15st 11lb, to finish the English hero well inside the distance this time round?
Eleven months ago, AJ was almost out on his feet at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Usyk pummelled him to a points defeat.
The Ukrainian said: “It’s true I have put on weight.
“I am going to walk into the middle of the ring and look for the stoppage — that’s the way it is going to be.”
Thankfully, only AJ has to argue with him now.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
