Despite suffering a second defeat at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk, Anthony Joshua maintains that he never lost faith in himself and that he needed to make the correct moves to return to the title picture.
The previous year has undoubtedly seen the return of the former Joshua, after a difficult phase. On September 21, he will take on Daniel Dubois, the heavyweight champion of the IBF, who will put him to the test.
Although he is always in excellent physical shape, the 34-year-old Joshua appears content and at ease working with Ben Davison. It’s also reasonable to say that he enters his bout with Dubois in the finest mental state of his career.
It’s taken some time, but Joshua is now fully aware of his skills and shortcomings and knows what it takes to achieve at the greatest level.
Although he might never rediscover the unwavering confidence that saw him through his first stint as heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) appears to have accepted the idea that he can be defeated. Instead, that extra degree of prudence has made him a more strategic fighter.
Maybe most significantly, he has recovered the confidence to completely commit to his attacks once he does decide to dig his toes into the canvas.
Joshua responded, “Progressive,” when DAZN asked him to describe his previous 12 months.
“We had a difficult beginning, having just suffered a loss to Oleksandr Usyk, the undefeated heavyweight champion of the world. He has since developed into a respectable heavyweight boxer. After two losses to him, you know the drill: You always have faith in yourself, but it hurts when other people don’t.
Joshua may be underestimating Usyk’s skill by calling him a respectable fighter, or he may be still too hard on himself. It might also indicate that, far from elevating Usyk above himself, Joshua thinks that his gains since those two defeats have improved him as a fighter and that he still sees Usyk as a goal worth achieving.
Dubois promises to present the most serious and savage test of his abilities in some time. Joshua will be able to claim he is back if he can coolly execute his strategy and defeat his fellow Londoner in front of 96,000 spectators at Wembley Stadium.
“You have a lot of pressure from people saying you’re not that same person anymore, so you’ve got to go back and rebuild,” Joshua added. “I had to rebuild myself, and you can see that I’ve been consistent. I’m not saying I’ve defeated world champion after world champion, but I had to make progress to reach the world championships. And every battle has brought us this far, so they’ve all been excellent steps forward.
“After competing in 12 rounds against [Jermaine] Franklin, seven against [Robert] Helenius—who was meant to be Dillian [Whyte]—five against [Otto] Wallin, and finally two against [Francis] Ngannou. Who knows what September 21st will bring?