By Barry Holbrook: Cruiserweight Isaac Chamberlain says Oleksandr Usyk has power, and Anthony Joshua can’t just think of going in there and steamrolling the unified heavyweight champion on August 20th without worrying about what’s coming back at him.
Chamberlain has shared the ring with the unbeaten Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) and knows how hard he hits and the kind of boxing skills he possesses.
Isaac feels that for Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) to defeat Oleksandr, he will need to be calculated with his approach and not go blindly in there thinking he’s going to overpower him, as many boxing fans are suggesting he should.
It may already be too late to change the mind of the 32-year-old Joshua because he’s got a new trainer, Robert Garcia, who he hired to teach him to be more aggressive.
Robert trained guys like Brandon Rios, a fighter that led with his face his entire career and always took a lot of punishment.
If Joshua follows Robert Garcia’s game plan to charge forward like an angry bull seeing red on the night, Usyk will have it easy and likely pick him apart as he did last September in their first fight in London.
Robert is likely trying to turn Joshua into the heavyweight division’s version of Arturo Gatti in hopes of reinventing him.
Earlier in Joshua’s career, he had great success when coming storming out of the gates and snowing under his hapless opposition with big power punches. That style worked until he fought Andy Ruiz Jr. in 2019, and ever since that fight, Joshua has turned into a Wladimir Klitschko-styled fighter.
“AJ has to come up with the correct game plan. He has to come very ferocious, very strong,” said Chamberlain to Sky Sports about what Anthony Joshua must do to defeat Oleksandr Usyk.
“Everyone keeps saying you have to steamroll Usyk, but the thing is Usyk is powerful as well,” Chamberlain said.
“He [Usyk] might have been a cruiserweight, but he’s gone up, and he does have power. So to go in and just try and bomb him it’s not going to make sense. There are punches coming back.”
At this point, Joshua will fight aggressively no matter what, particularly with his new trainer, Robert egging him on between rounds.
The 6’6″ Joshua will listen to Garcia and try and try and smash the shorter, smaller, and weaker 6’3″ Usyk with his size & power game.
If it works, Joshua’s career will be temporarily saved, and Robert Garcia will look like a genius. Unfortunately, whatever success Joshua has against Usyk will only be a short-term thing.
Whatever changes Robert makes to Joshua’s game will be the equivalent of a temporary fix-it-flat measure.
Joshua is heading downhill, and he probably only has a couple of fights left in him before he’s ready for the scrap heap.
“Use his feints, and use his lateral movement. When you’re on the inside, be a lot rougher as well,” said Chamberlain about his advice for Joshua.
