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WBO cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie believes his manager, Anthony Joshua, should use tactics like Tyson Fury to overcome Oleksandr Usyk in their expected rematch.
Last month, Usyk outboxed Joshua over twelve rounds to capture the WBO, IBF, WBA, IBO heavyweight titles.
Joshua has since exercised an immediate rematch clause, with the second contest expected to take place in the first quarter of 2022.
Most observers believe Joshua utilized the wrong game plan when he faced Usyk.
He attempted to outbox the much better boxer and Usyk was able to handle him in every round.
Okolie feels Joshua must impose his size and strength in the same manner that Fury did against Deonay Wilder.
“He was in there with a world class fighter, a generational talent. It’s not just a case of you doing this and that happens. There’s another person in there trying to prevent that and knock you out. There’s stuff AJ can do to try and change the way the fight looks and feels, and I think he will. But in terms of his performance, he tried his best and it wasn’t good enough on the day. You have to just say Usyk was great that night and AJ has to work on certain things to beat that style,” Okolie told Daily Mail.
“As you saw with Fury and Wilder, Wilder is an exceptional fighter, an exceptional puncher. But Fury decided, you know what, I’m 277-pounds and I’m going to let you know it. He pushed him back, he rallied through the hard rounds, ground him down and got the stoppage. I believe AJ can do something similar.
“Of course AJ is a talented boxer, but Usyk is an extremely talented boxer. Nine out of 10 heavyweights aren’t going to try and box Usyk, they’re going to go in there and say ‘I am a natural heavyweight, let me show you.’ I believe AJ does that, and alongside the boxing skills he has, he’ll get it done. He relied a bit too much on his boxing ability, where sometimes you have to remember it’s a contact sport, so go in there and make contact.”