Tony Bellew: Oleksandr Uysk An Even Harder Fight For Anthony Joshua With Lomachenko Sr. As Coach
Oleksandr Usyk just became a tougher fight for Anthony Joshua according to Tony Bellew.
Usyk is expected to challenge Joshua for his heavyweight titles in a fight slated for September 25 at Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
And it was recently revealed by Bob Arum that Anatoly — the father of pound-for-pound star Vasiliy Lomachenko — would be training Usyk for the fight.
Bellew — whose last fight was a TKO defeat to Usyk — believes that development has made things even harder for Joshua.
“It’s a hard fight, I’m not gonna lie. It’s a very, very hard fight,” Bellew told talkSPORT. “If anything, it’s just got even harder because Usyk has now gone back with Lomachenko’s father. That makes it even harder because they will create a game plan that is gonna try and negate everything good that Anthony Joshua does.
“They’re gonna try and take everything away from him. That’s what Usyk does so well. He takes away your strengths before he looks at implementing his own strengths. And by taking away your strengths, you’re lost. The things he does with his feet – he’s exceptional. So I think it’s a really hard fight, I think it’s really dangerous.”
That said, Bellew is still backing his fellow Briton — though things will be rocky early on.
“I think Anthony Joshua will be down on points when he catches up with him,” Bellew added. “I think he will catch up with him between rounds six and ten – I really do. I just think the size is too much, I just think the speed and the power will be too much.
“The thing about Anthony Joshua is he’s now becoming a student of the game. He’s putting in extra time, studying. He’s watching the old school fighters. He’s a consummate professional, the best conditioned heavyweight in the world. Physically, I would say the best athlete the heavyweight division has seen in 20 years. Without a shadow of a doubt.
“All he needs to click up on now is his actual boxing IQ and that’s getting better and better. He’s gonna have to implement speed and force against Usyk. There is no other way around it. There’s no easy way to beat this guy.”
