Oleksandr Usyk baffles fans as Amir Khan shares new video ahead of Anthony Joshua rematch

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Amir Khan has posted a bizarre video of Oleksandr Usyk training for his rematch with Anthony Joshua as the former multi-weight world champion joins the camp. In the clip, Usyk can be seen balancing on a medicine ball while juggling as fans are left stunned by the Ukrainian’s training techniques.

One fan tweeted: “Got a feeling he gets brutally banged out this time.” Another wrote: “Dropped the ball. Head’s gone. Joshua takes him to hell.” While a third added: “WTF is he doing?”

Usyk faces Joshua for a second time on August 20 at the King Abdullah Sport City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In their last outing, Usyk comfortably outpointed the Brit over twelve rounds at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London as he captured the WBA (super), IBF, and WBO heavyweight titles.

Since securing the second fight, Usyk has kept his training very much under wrap. Express Sport understands that many sparring partner’s coaches were not allowed to turn up to camp and help their fighters prepare. But as Khan’s video reveals ‘The Cat’ looks to be enjoying himself.

A lot has been made of Usyk’s change in weight ahead of the inaugural defence of his unified heavyweight titles. A video shared by Sky Sports Boxing shows a far more muscular Usyk playing tennis with his team which has received a mixed response.

On the one hand, many fans had flocked to the video to declare that Joshua is in ‘serious trouble’ against a bigger Usyk but many experts think otherwise. Among them is renowned boxing trainer, Dave Coldwell, who told Express Sport: “From an Usyk point of view, I get that he is going to be more aggressive and look to land bigger shots but with his mobility and speed being his two greatest assets, they will take a hit. It’s going to slow him down, if you’re losing speed, you’re giving more options to be hit and not only that I believe that AJ really needs to focus on going to Usyk’s body to take away his legs.

“Now, if that is what he’s going for and he’s looking at landing to the body then if you put on manufactured weight and muscle mass, then when you’re getting banged downstairs to the body you tend to gas a little quicker.

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“We always look at AJ and say ‘he’s too big, he’s too bulky’ and that’s why he gasses out quicker and so if you land a few body shots on him he tends to gas quicker. Not just AJ, but in general a lot of fighters that have that high muscle density.”

Coming into the contest, Joshua is expected to adopt a more aggressive approach under new trainer Robert Garcia. While the consensus path to victory for Usyk is to carry on from his September showing by jabbing and moving his way to victory but with more weight, there is a worry that ‘AJ’ will be able to walk him down and use his size and strength advantage to good use.

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