Unified heavyweight champion of the world Anthony Joshua has declared that former unified king of the division Wladimir Klitschko has contacted him and wished him luck before his upcoming fight with Ukraine’s finest Oleksandr Usyk.
The two are fighting this Saturday night in London with the WBO, IBF and the WBA “Super” belts on the line.
Usyk’s manager, Sergey Lapin said that Usyk had not heard from his countrymen Wladimir and Vitali in the build-up to Saturday’s WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight title fight, but Joshua, who has had a friendly relationship with Wladimir for years, said he had.
“He’s actually been very quiet in the build-up, Joshua said. “You know what, I spoke to him at the start, he said, ‘I’m not taking sides, as you know, Usyk is the K2 fighter, but good luck’. That’s what he said. And that’s all I’ve heard from him.”
“I feel like it was a great night,” he said looking back. “It was needed. At that time in boxing it was needed, especially for the heavyweight division, and Wladimir Klitschko needed a fight like that as well.
“For me, if it had happened two years later it would have been better for me because I would have been more experienced, but I would have been two years late because the champion would have retired.
“To top that? Let’s see if Usyk wants to go down that route. You know, if he wants to – I’ll put him in some adversity, if he could put me in some adversity. As you saw with (Andy) Ruiz, even though it was a tough night, I just kept on getting up, just kept on trying to get up. So I’ll always get up on my feet and try to fight. I’ll always give you entertaining nights.”
“He’s fought many men that are orthodox but during my process in training for a southpaw, I’ve learnt where my feet need to be positioned, what controls a southpaw and what counterpunches to throw,” Joshua said.
“He’s had years of listening to these southpaws beating up orthodox fighters and I’ve got to reverse the tale and be an orthodox fighter who beats up a southpaw. He’s used to seeing guys like me throughout the whole of his career and my one is I’ve had to train for him over the last three months. I’ve adapted.”
“He’s done well at heavyweight,” Joshua said. “The difference is like let’s say when [Evander] Holyfield came up to heavyweight, he had six fights at heavyweight before he fought for the championship belt.
“Usyk has fought two heavyweights. He’s obviously had WSB experience but yeah, he’s jumping in deeper there. Good luck to him. He must believe in himself.
“He’s done well. But he must know it’s difficult so he wants to go to the top end. It’s fair to swim deep, in my opinion, get in there, get on with it, rather than tread water and you can still end up drowning anyway, you can still get caught in a current and drown anyway.
“So you might as well just jump in the deep end and try and survive.”
