Anthony Joshua says he learnt to ‘read punches’ from Oleksandr Usyk

Britain’s star boxers Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury are set to square off after years of rivalry. The two heavyweights are set to clash head-to-head in arguably one of the biggest fights in modern boxing history. However, months before their rumored fight in Nov. 2026, Joshua recently opened up about his learnings from Oleksandr Usyk.

Usyk and Joshua were recently spotted training in Ukraine, a move that also drew heavy trolling from Tyson Fury himself. However, Joshua chose to ignore the trolling then and stayed focused on his training. At a recent press event in London, Joshua explained what he’s learned from his time with Usyk.

“Fitness — and not just fitness for running, but boxing fitness. And IQ. When I say that, I mean defence. I understand it. I can really read punches again. [I am] fully locked in. I can see it again. The punches. I can read the opponent really well, and [I’m] not focused on other stuff. I’m going to respect the sport of boxing,” Joshua said.

“There’s a certain level of energy it takes to be a championship fighter, and you can’t be anywhere underneath that if you want to be good. And when you align your energy to that, everything becomes easy. I put my energy fully into boxing. I feel myself improving again,” he finished.

Before his return in 2025, Fury lost two of his last boxing matches to Usyk. Similar to Fury, Joshua also lost two matches to Usyk a few years ago in 2021 and 2022. Having recovered from that loss, Joshua now intends to learn from Usyk before facing Fury.

Anthony Joshua explains the changes he's made since working with Team Usyk #JoshuaPrenga | July 25 | Esports World Cup Fight Week | Live Exclusively on DAZN pic.twitter.com/z84UR3BH7S

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