Right then. Strangest sentence I’ve written in a long time: Oleksandr Usyk is helping Anthony Joshua get ready for his comeback. Same Usyk who knocked Joshua about twice and took his belts. Same Joshua who said the rematch was “business, never personal.” They’re now training partners at Usyk’s La Manga base in Spain, and the Rocky III footage Usyk dropped on May 9 has done numbers.
What’s Actually Happening
Usyk has opened his Verhoeven camp to Joshua across the last two weeks. The first round of sessions was in Ukraine. The second — the one we’ve all seen the footage of — is at the elite training facility on the Murcian coast. Beach runs. Long body work in the heat. Pad sessions with Sergei Lapin, Usyk’s long-time trainer.
Eddie Hearn confirmed on Monday what most people in the sport already knew: the joint sessions are real, they’re structured, and Joshua’s mental state is the best it’s been since the Bellew fight.
Why It Works For Joshua
Make no mistake — this is exactly what AJ needed. After the personal tragedy in December, his comeback fight against Kristian Prenga on July 25 in Riyadh is more about getting back into ring rhythm than testing his level. Spending three weeks watching Usyk work, getting hit by the best feet at heavyweight, getting his ring IQ rebuilt by a man who’s lapped him twice — it’s the smartest possible preparation.
Joshua’s problem at heavyweight was never the body. It was the brain. He fights better when he’s tactically sharp and his confidence is high. Sparring with Usyk fixes both at once.
Why It Works For Usyk
This bit gets missed. Usyk is fighting Rico Verhoeven on May 23. Verhoeven is 6’5, 280-plus pounds, and a long-limbed kickboxer with eleven years of Glory heavyweight kickboxing experience. Where does Usyk find a 6’6 sparring partner with the reach and the build to mimic Verhoeven?
Right. Anthony Joshua.
Joshua is the closest body type at heavyweight to what Verhoeven brings on the night. Long levers, big body, telegraphed lead hand, comes forward in straight lines. Usyk gets twenty rounds of dress rehearsal against the type of frame he’ll face under the pyramids. Brilliant move.
Where It Gets Interesting
Both men are signed for huge fights this year. Joshua is set for the Tyson Fury mega-fight in Q4 if he beats Prenga. Usyk has Verhoeven on the 23rd and then a possible third Fury fight or a Dubois unification after that.
The fact that the two of them are willing to share a camp this close to fight night tells you something the public chatter has missed — both men have moved on. There’s no needle. The respect’s now real. And the chess game between Joshua and Fury later this year just got a lot more interesting, because the brain in Joshua’s corner from now until November is going to be Usyk-shaped.
Luke’s Read
Class move. Brilliant for the sport. Usyk is announcing again that he’s the smartest man in heavyweight boxing — he’s getting his Verhoeven prep AND he’s wrong-footing Fury by improving the guy Fury’s about to fight at the end of the year. Levels of thinking.
If Joshua walks through Prenga in July looking sharp and composed, you can put a chunk of that down to the three weeks he’s currently spending in the Murcian sunshine. The Rocky III routine isn’t a gimmick. It’s a proper boxing camp.