Anthony Joshua desperate to avoid line in the sand with Usyk rematch

The weather in Jeddah is seasonably hot. Temperatures in the mid-to-high-30s and high levels of humidity have made Saudi Arabia’s city by the Red Sea a stifling place to be this week for those not used to such conditions. And for one visitor in particular it could be proving too much given he already has other reasons for feeling the heat.

Anthony Joshua is here for what may well prove to be a career-defining fight. On Saturday night, at the Abdullah Sports City Arena, he faces Oleksandr Usyk and seeks to avenge his defeat to the Ukrainian in Tottenham 11 months ago, in which he lost his WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles via a unanimous points decision.

Joshua was out-thought and outfought in front of a home crowd and such was the gulf in class that the 32-year-old knew he had to make significant changes if he was to beat Usyk this time. And that is what he did, sacking his longtime coach Robert McCracken and replacing him with the highly regarded Mexican-American Robert Garcia.

Armed with a more aggressive strategy, Joshua feels confident he can exact revenge this weekend and, in the process, join the likes of Muhammad Ali and Lennox Lewis in becoming a three-time heavyweight champion. But equally he will have doubts, and he will be aware they are shared by bookmakers and punters alike.

Few, if any, back Joshua to beat such a skilled and resilient opponent as Usyk, with many inside boxing, including the former world champions Carl Froch and Kell Brook, going as far as to say defeat for Joshua is likely to leave him with little choice but to retire after what will be his 27th professional bout.

That may sound like hyperbole but such is the nature of a sport in which the fall from the top is often brutally swift, and