WBO, IBF and WBA unified world champion Anthony Joshua has stepped on the pedestal to up his sparring rounds. The 28-year-old Briton feels that he is being “hunted” and hence needs to prepare to meet adversaries of all calibers. With his focused, resilient training at the gym, AJ is quite hopeful that he would be able to make an impression Russian rival Alexander Povetkin won’t forget for a long time to come. Alexander Povetkin and Anthony Joshua would be facing off on September 22 and the fight would be broadcast live on Sky Sports Box Office.
Make sure you’re sitting comfortable September 22nd #AJBXNG pic.twitter.com/iZNuLI28UH
— Anthony Joshua (@anthonyfjoshua) September 12, 2018
While taking to the media about his revamped strategy, this is what the boxing prodigy had to say,
“People aren’t coming to give me rounds anymore. They don’t say: ‘what do you want me to do? No. They’re coming to take my head off because I’m the hunted. I’ve become the hunted and I’m well aware of that, and it’s made me up my game. This is the reality I live in.”
In his latest campaign, the Watford native is being accompanied by Agit Kabayel who has previously defeated Dereck Chisora and Scottish Martin Bakole.
While talking about his training rituals with his partners, AJ said,
“Tough sparring, we do a lot of rounds,” Joshua said. “I called it on – I asked for more rounds. I’ll never do that again! We’ve been sparring the Turks, Germans, Africans, English. Different countries, physicality, mentalities. I’m world champion right now but I’m still learning from all these guys because they’re really talented fighters. I take in what they tell me.”
AJ seems adamant to dispatch a grueling defeat to Alexander Povetkin by displaying all his best feats. According to the reigning world champ,
“Remember, Povetkin isn’t getting out after four or five rounds. He’s staying in there with me. Everything I have learned, I will do. We’ve been trading heavy leather in these sparring sessions so, if I can do that with Povetkin and he stays in, all credit to him. Because in sparring, after four or five rounds, it gets tough and physical. I know my sparring partners have the opportunity to get out but he has to stay in, so it will be interesting to see how he survives.”
28-year-old boxer has a clean resume so far and is looking to give his best performance in his upcoming match with Povetkin. Joshua had been force to go to distance once in his pro career thus far by his last opponent Joseph Parker.
While recalling his last bout, Joshua said,
“In the Parker fight, there was an air around my name: ‘he’s tough, he can fight, he can bang, but he’ll probably gas out after nine rounds’. Naturally as a young fighter coming through, you listen to that nonsense. Parker was a champion as well – ‘he’s the fastest heavyweight in the division, he’s fit, Samoan power’. I acknowledged that, didn’t go in over-confident, was clever and went the rounds to prove it to myself. They know I can fight – I proved it with Wladimir Klitschko and Dillian Whyte – but in the Parker fight, I proved I could box. I can sustain energy. I can go 12 rounds.”
