Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk 2: AJ makes 'raw ability' admission

Anthony Joshua has admitted that he relied too much on ‘raw ability’ against Oleksandr Usyk – but has vowed to put it right in their rematch.

AJ, 32, was completely outclassed back in September as he lost the WBA, IBF, and WBO world heavyweight titles to the Ukrainian.

The British superstar is hoping to avenge his schooling at the hands of the slick southpaw in the summer, although the date and location for their second showdown hasn’t been finalised.

The pair’s rematch has been pencilled in for July 23 in Saudi Arabia, and Joshua claims that he has ‘added more to my arsenal’ after making several changes to his training set-up.

Speaking at the Oxford Union, he said: “Before it was just on raw ability.

“As I said, fighting for the championship in 16 fights is kind of unheard of because you’re still developing, so there’s a lot of rawness still that you need to polish.

“Now I feel polished, I’m experienced, I’ve lost, I’ve came back.

“I’ve fought the best of this era, yet to still fight a few people, one that’s retired recently, one in America that we don’t know what’s happening.

“So there’s a few more top tier fighters that I want to add to my resume.

“I feel as a more experienced person with a lot more character due to the things that I’ve been to I shall follow up on gameplans but also use that raw spirit I have.

“Not just depending on that but I feel like I’ve added more to my arsenal.”

One of the criticisms constantly levelled at Joshua is that he is a businessman first and foremost and a boxer second.

But he insists that he doesn’t see anything wrong with that.

Joshua added: “I never thought I would be moving more into the business realm when I first started boxing.

“But I said to you earlier right, as an