Anthony Joshua will gain fresh respect and recognition if he recaptures the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight titles, according to former world champion and Sky Sports pundit Johnny Nelson.
Joshua will challenge Oleksandr Usyk in a rematch on August 20th in Saudi Arabia.
Last September at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Usyk outboxed Joshua over twelve rounds to capture the unified crown.
The outcome marked the second defeat in Joshua's career.
"Anthony Joshua had that crossover appeal when you've got people interested in boxing that wouldn't bat an eyelid at it," said Nelson to Sky Sports.
"You're looking at his style and what he's done and there's always people that say 'well this opponent wasn't that', he wasn't given the credit he deserved. This fight will be that fight. Remember, he's done it twice now. If Anthony Joshua goes in there and beats him, the next person will be like 'yeah, but you've not beaten Tyson Fury or not beaten Deontay Wilder'.
"He's always going to have these things, but to me this proves you've got to respect him. Because he's gone in there with one of the best fighters in the world and he's going to go in there and beat him, if he does that where do the questions come from then?"
Joshua, a former two-time heavyweight champion, got revenge for his first defeat, a seven round stoppage loss at the hands of Andy Ruiz in June 2019. Six months later, Joshua outboxed him over twelve rounds for a dominant decision.
Usyk is widely regarded as a much better fighter than Ruiz.
"This is not an impossible ask but it's a tough ask," said Nelson. "When he lost to Ruiz everybody said 'he's done, he's written off', he went back and said 'I've got to change my tactics'.
"This is what he's got to do in this fight, he's got to change his tactics. He tried to beat Usyk at his own game and in doing so he walked straight into Usyk's plan, that's exactly what he wanted to do instead of using his natural ability. He was getting picked off by Usyk's southpaw style, dummying with the jab, he was just befuddling him, so he wasn't sure whether to let a shot go and it was making him second guess himself, making his footwork look off balance because he was not sure of the shot he was going to throw because he was walking into the Lion's Den in regards to fighting Usyk's kind of fight.
"To change this, what Anthony Joshua has to do is fight his fight. He out-smarted himself instead of doing what's worked for him in the past and what's got him to this stage in his career."
