Eddie Hearn, promoter for heavyweight Anthony Joshua, rejects the recent chatter that his boxer is looking ‘small’ in his ongoing training camp.
Joshua has been showing off a slimmer physique as he prepares to defend his IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO world titles against mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on September 25.
Usyk, a former undisputed cruiserweight world champion, is regarded by many observers as the best pure boxer that Joshua will ever face in his growing career.
Hearn explains that Joshua is no longer the same boxer who spent too much time lifting weights in the gym.
“He doesn’t look small to me. He looks massive. He looks like an absolute unit, to be honest with you,” Hearn told Pep Talk UK.
“His legs look huge, and powerful, and fast. With them, it’s never a case of, ‘I’m going to drop weight. What am I weighing today?’ The difference in the training over the years [for Joshua] is that he’s gone from a guy that was lifting weights and doing a lot of power stuff to a guy that is boxing.
“More sparring, more time on your feet, more time in the ring, more time on the pads, more rounds on the bag. That’s what’s going to get you fitness over time. Before, he was extremely explosive, but after the tank was empty, how do you go through those championship rounds? When he boxed Dillian [Whyte], when he boxed [Charles] Martin, and when he boxed [Wladimir] Klitschko, he didn’t really know what he was doing.
“He was just big, strong, and tough with attributes and good fundamentals. Now he’s well-rounded and knows and understands the game. That makes you so much more difficult to beat.”