Fighter turned promoter, Dmitriy Salita, does not believe Anthony Joshua is capable of making the proper adjustments to overcome Oleksandr Usyk in their upcoming rematch.
Joshua was outboxed over twelve rounds last September at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
He will attempt to reclaim the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight titles on August 20th, when he collides with Usyk in a rematch in Saudi Arabia.
To get himself ready for the second meeting, Joshua parted ways with longtime trainer Robert McCracken and hired veteran coach Robert Garcia.
Even with a new corner and a mountain of motivation, Salita is confidently backing Usyk to win the second encounter.
“Usyk is the better fighter and I just don't see how AJ can make the adjustments to beat Usyk, I don't see it," Salita told BoyleSports Boxing.
“Usyk is a very experienced fighter, had a tremendous amateur career, and is an Olympic gold medalist. He has been taught the science of boxing as a kid and really knows boxing like a scientist, on a scientific level. He's a boxing master, one of the most educated boxers in the world, maybe even of all time. He's really, really well educated in terms of the sweet science.
“This isn’t to take anything away from AJ, he's a great fighter and did some amazing things in his career, but when he beat Klitschko that was the peak of his career. And after that, he's been progressively slipping down just a little bit every fight.
“AJ is athletically very gifted and a hard worker and did the best he can with what he's got. But I believe that skill wise and boxing knowledge wise these are two different athletes. The only thing that AJ has in his favor is we don't know how what's going on in Ukraine affected Usyk. Has it inspired and motivated him, or is it causing him trouble and emotional turmoil? No one really knows.”
