Oleksandr Usyk has reportedly sent many of his sparring partners packing as details of the Ukrainian’s brutal gym wars have been revealed. In preparation for his rematch with Anthony Joshua next month, Usyk has left no stone unturned and is looking “dangerous” in training.
Kazakh heavyweight prospect, Nursultan Amanzholov, has been sparring Usyk for a second camp running and according to his manager, Aamir Ali, ‘The Cat’ is looking extremely spiteful and is leaving no prisoners in sparring.
“He [Amanzholov] says there are days when Usyk goes to war with him. It’s not easy to hurt to Nursultan but he’s been on the receiving end a few times. But a lot of his heavyweights have been sent back home, if they can’t stay in camp,” Ali told Sky Sports. “They can’t keep up.”
Ali added: “He said as soon as [Usyk] came back from Jeddah, from the press conference, the day he arrived back, he phoned up Nursultan who was sitting in his hotel and said to him, ‘I want you sparring today.’ Literally got off the plane and started sparring straightaway and [Amanzholov] said he was in a foul mood. He was in a really angry mood, wanted to go to war.
Usyk and Joshua square off for a second time on August 20 at the Jeddah Superdome, Saudi Arabia. Joshua is looking to regain the WBA (super), IBF, and WBO heavyweight titles that he lost on home soil to Usyk in September.
During that inaugural encounter, Joshua was criticised for not being aggressive enough and is expected to use his size and power more in the rematch under new coach Robert Garcia.
Clearly, Usyk, is expecting a similar approach from ‘AJ’ as he prepares for a more ruthless Joshua by fighting fire with fire against larger bodies.
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