Anthony Joshua’s Oleksandr Usyk revelation ahead of Jake Paul fight | Boxing | Sport
Anthony Joshua has revealed that he has been working with Oleksandr Usyk and his team in the build-up to his December 19 showdown with Jake Paul. The two-time heavyweight boxing champion of the world is set to face the influencer-turned-challenger in Miami, Florida, in the build-up to Christmas, with the two men speaking at a press conference to promote the bout on Friday evening.
During which, Joshua was asked by host, Ariel Helwani, whether trainer Ben Davison will be in his corner for the eight-round encounter. In response to which, AJ revealed that he had enjoyed a change of scenery alongside one of the world’s greatest-ever boxers in undefeated Ukrainian, Usyk. He replied: “So no, I won’t be trained by Ben Davison.
“I said that London’s a bit distracting for me, so I was invited to train by Team Usyk. So I’ve been in Spain, we’ve been doing some good training out in Spain. He is one of the best in the world, and it’s not all down to him, it’s also down to his team that surround him.
“So I linked up with them, and getting an insight into how someone has achieved so much has been phenomenal, man. It’s been a great experience and it’s very challenging.”
When asked by Helwani how long he has been with Team Usyk, Joshua added: “A couple of months now,” before he was probed on whether he has had the honour of sparring with Usyk himself. He then said: “I don’t spar with Usyk. He’s training somewhere else at the minute. He’s been in camp, but he’s in and out of camp. So right now he’s training somewhere else.”
When asked what he makes of learning that Joshua has been training with two-time undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion, Usyk, Paul replied: “It’s great. Obviously, he’s training with the best in the world; he is one of the best heavyweights in the world, I expect nothing less, great.
“And I want the best version of Anthony Joshua on December 19, and it’s going to be the best version of Jake Paul that you’ve seen – and we’ll see who’s better.”
With a record of 24-0 and having held undisputed glory at both cruiserweight and heavyweight, Usyk will go down in the annals of history as one of the greatest-ever boxers to walk the Earth. The 38-year-old has shared the ring with Joshua twice throughout the course of his career, beating him via unanimous decision in September 2021, before clinching a split-decision win over him the following August.
Joshua heads into his fight against Paul with a record of 28-4 at present, on the back of a knockout loss to Daniel Dubois last September for the IBF heavyweight title. Paul, 28, meanwhile, heads into the fray with a record of 12-1, clinching a unanimous decision win over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in June. His only career loss came at the hands of Tommy Fury in February 2023, and fight fans will be eager to see how he fares against one of the greatest Britons to step foot in the ring.
