Anthony Joshua reveals that he 'misses' brutal side ahead of Oleksandr Usyk rematch

Anthony Joshua has revealed that he misses his ‘ferocious’ side as the countdown to his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk continues.

One thing that’s always been true about Anthony Joshua is that he’s a warrior at heart. The Brit has never been one to shy away from a challenge and throughout the course of his career, he’s been able to defeat some of the biggest and baddest heavyweights in the game.

That led him down the path of becoming a two-time world champion and on August 20, he’ll attempt to complete the hat-trick when he takes on Oleksandr Usyk for the belts in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

During a press conference to promote the showpiece event earlier this week, Joshua spoke candidly about his past and what he hopes to bring back in preparation for the rematch.

“I was thinking back, I cut up a few people’s faces: Paul Butlin, Usyk, I split [Kubrat] Pulev’s lip.

“I just grazed [Andy] Ruiz, he doesn’t count because I mean properly smashing faces in. I like that stuff, I never had a style, I just adapted.

“One of my strengths was my power but I always wanted to go down that path of being a clean boxer, ‘hit and not get hit, especially if I want to have a long and successful career.

“You need to have a good defence but I moved away from the ferocious side of boxing where I knew I could hit and stun people. And I do miss the days of slicing people’s faces open and hurting them, for sure. So I am looking forward to getting back to that.”

On September 25 last year, Anthony Joshua lost the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles when he was decisively beaten over twelve rounds by Usyk at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Ever since that night he’s dreamt of getting the opportunity to reclaim the gold and now, we’re just under two