By Brian Webber: Spencer Oliver questions whether Anthony Joshua has “psychological damage” from his loss to Oleksandr Usyk last September. It’s a question of whether Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) can overcome the psychological damage from the first fight against Usyk.
If Joshua can’t mentally overcome what happened to him, he’ll surely lose to Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) on Saturday night at the Jeddah Superdome in Saudi Arabia.
Joshua is ready to try every trick in the book to win the rematch. He has a new trainer, and he’s talking a lot of self-help psycho-babble in hopes that he will create a new reality in the second fight.
“You can’t not make Usyk the overwhelming favorite going into this fight,” said Spencer Oliver to iFL TV. “But Joshua recognizes that; he recognizes what he got wrong. It’s whether he can overcome that psychological damage.
“Joshua was the overwhelming favorite. He went in there and tactically got it totally wrong. From the third round, when he got tagged, he sort of lost heart and was standing off more and allowed Usyk to get into a rhythm.
“When that guy gets into a rhythm, he’s very difficult to beat. You’ve got to take his game away from him. It’s whether he can overcome that psychological damage from the first fight.
“Usyk will take off from where he left off. Joshua is the one that has got to do all the adjustments. I think he’s going to be 15 lbs heavier,” Oliver said of Usyk. “Is he looking for a knockout? Will that play into Joshua’s hands in case he plants his feet a little more?
“I don’t think he will. Joshua has got the tools to win this fight, but I don’t know if he can implement now. I don’t know if he’s got psychological damage from the first fight.
“If he can implement what he says he needs to do, which is go in there and use educated pressure to take Usyk out of his rhythm and land one of those shots.
“Joshua has got the power where it’s elite heavyweight power where you’re at ringside and when he lands that shot, you feel the vibration on the floor. It’s something different from other heavyweights. He’s got that power. If he catches Usyk, Usyk will stay caught,” said Oliver.
