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Anthony Joshua told to flirt with ‘disqualification’ in order to win Oleksandr Usyk fight

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Anthony Joshua has been urged to be more physical in his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk later this month (Photo by Amer HILABI / AFP) (Photo by AMER HILABI/AFP via Getty Images)

Joshua and Usyk meet in a highly-anticipated rematch in Saudi Arabia later this month and former world champion David Haye has given AJ some advice ahead of the fight

With Anthony Joshua hoping to avenge his September defeat by Oleksandry Usyk in their rematch later this month, David Haye, according to Manchester Evening News,  has said that Joshua must bring more physicality to the point where he may risk disqualification.

Joshua will have his rematch against Usyk at the Jeddah Super Dome in Saudi Arabia on August 20 and will be hoping for a better performance than the one which saw him relinquish his world titles following a unanimous decision defeat to Usyk at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last year.

Joshua is a much larger fighter than the former cruiserweight Usyk  and has been urged by former world champion David Haye to use his size advantage to beat the Ukrainian. Joshua is 6 foot 6, three inches taller than Usyk who is the the same height as former WBA champion Haye who is also 6 foot 3.

Haye, according to Manchesyer Evening News, was speaking to the Telegraph’s Gareth A. Davies  when he made the claim that Joshua should push the rules to their limit with the use of his body in the rematch.

Speaking about who he thought would win and how, Haye explained: “I’m going to go with Anthony Joshua again,” Haye said. “I went with him in a big way in the first fight.

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“He didn’t fight in the manner which I thought he was going to that I think would have given him the best chance of winning. He applied probably the worst tactics you could do against a southpaw. Gave him range, was respectful inside, in close.

“There was no warnings from the ref about deducting points because he never imposed himself. I think he’s [Joshua] watched it back and knows what he needs to do.

“He’s got a good team who’s gonna drill it into him that this is not a boxing match, this has got to be a dog fight from the first bell. He should be this close to getting a point deducted or disqualified, that’s how physical he needs to be because he’s a specimen like no other in the heavyweight division.”

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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