Anthony Joshua will deliver knockout revenge against Oleksandr Usyk – but he can’t allow himself to fall behind again

Frazer Clarke, Olympic medal winner and Anthony Joshua’s long-time trainer partner and friend, gives his insider view on Saturday’s rematch against Oleksandr Uysk.

The first time I met Anthony Joshua was 2009 when I boxed him as an amateur. I sparred him the whole way through the Olympics, before his professional debut and in most of the camps leading up to this point now. And if I have not been sparring him, I have been involved at his side in the gym. You build relationships with people in boxing and a lot of them are built on respect.

With AJ, it is not because he is Anthony Joshua, world heavyweight champion. I respected him well before he became that. For his hustle, for the fire he has in his eyes, the hunger to do better and change his life. It was the same then and it is the same now. He’s just Josh to me.

I’ve sparred hundreds of rounds with Joshua over the years – in the lead-up up to this fight my role has simply been a gym friend. Everyone needs them. Someone you pat on the back if they are doing well or telling them they need to pull their finger out because they are not giving it what they need to. I have never had to do that with Josh this camp, it has been so intense.

He’s just another fighter in the gym who happens to be a former heavyweight world champion. But he is training like a competitor again, the underdog, maybe for the first time since the Wladimir Klitschko fight. And he has been showing something that he might have to show again against Usyk on the night.

In camp, I have seen those switches in AJ, the ones where he leaves people with sore heads the next morning. I have never not seen him focused really but he is 100 per cent dedicated to the cause. He has invested in himself and he has invested a