Oleksandr Usyk vs Anthony Joshua 2: AJ's 'old school' mentality explained

Anthony Joshua has adopted an ‘old school’ mentality ahead of his rematch against Oleksandr Usyk, his training partner said.

The former two-time heavyweight world champion suffered a unanimous decision defeat to his Ukrainian arch rival last September on home soil at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

Joshua, 33, attributed his second loss inside the ring to his rather tentative approach, which led him to replace his longtime coach Rob McCracken with Robert Garcia joining Angel Fernandes in his corner.

And according to AJ’s teammate Richard Riakporhe, they have helped him change his mindset completely heading into arguably the most important fight of his career to date.

Riakporhe, 32, told Sky Sports: “Both of them [Garcia and Fernandes] have a similar type of mentality – very, very aggressive. Very aggressive coaches, that’s their tactics. They don’t mind going in.

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“All they care about is going into war, going to war but with intelligence. But we’re going to have to impose our will on our opponent. That’s the philosophy and it’s all about knockouts .

“That’s all they care about, honestly, knock them out and then it’s about how they get knocked out. Because you can’t go in there just throwing bombs and not expect things back. You obviously have to be really strategic. It’s all about the results and that’s all they care about.

“Garcia, one thing that I’ve learned about him, he does bring that mentality, that Mexican style mentality – it’s OK to take one, to give them two.”

Less than a month away from Joshua’s shot at redemption in Saudi Arabia on August 20, Riakporhe believes the British