Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk 2: Kubrat Pulev claims AJ is 'nothing special'

Kubrat Pulev expects Oleksandr Usyk to knock out Anthony Joshua in their highly-anticipated rematch.

The Bulgarian star doesn’t rate the British superstar very highly at all.

That’s despite being knocked out by him at the O2 Arena in London back in 2020.

But he insists that was because he didn’t prepare properly for their fight.

Pulev told iFL TV: “When they make a rematch, I think Usyk is going to knock him out because Joshua is nothing special.

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“I lost against him, but I wasn’t good prepared.

“It’s my mistake, of course. It’s my fault, but that was the situation. Now I have a lot of power and energy. Health is most important.”

Joshua, 32, has assembled a crack team after having a huge sort out to help him get over what his new trainer Robert Garcia has described as a ‘mental problem’ ahead of his rematch with Usyk.

AJ suffered his second career defeat in September last year when he was outpointed by Usyk at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

But Garcia is convinced they can bring the best out of him as he attempts to regain his belts.

Garcia told his YouTube channel: “A lot of fighters, they come off a loss – like probably after the Andy Ruiz Jr fight – they come off a loss thinking that was never gonna happen.

“So it affected him, it affected him mentally.

“He probably thought, ‘Maybe that’s the end of my career, maybe that’s it,’ so he had a lot of things going on in his mind.

“I think that’s one of the most important things that affected Anthony and that’s what I’m here to change – me and Angel and other help that he’s got.

“He’s created a team of not only me and Angel teaming up, preparing the game plan and training him with the