Anthony Joshua has a test on July 25. The road to bigger rewards depends on how he comes through this one. And from what Eddie Hearn revealed ahead of AJ’s bout with Kristian Prenga in Riyadh, it appears the former unified heavyweight champion is grinding harder than ever to get past the challenge.
“He’s flying. I mean, he is in a place over there, you know,” Hearn said about AJ’s training camp. “It was back in maybe September or August when AJ said to me, ‘I’m going to go and do two weeks in Usyk’s camp and then just come back,’ and he never came home basically right up to the Jake Paul fight and then from there straight back into camp a month or five weeks ago.
“He’s happy there. He’s—he’s really happy. I mean, they’re working him like a dog, like a dog. He’s never worked like this before, you know.”
Anthony Joshua’s connection with Team Usyk was already fairly well known. They manned his corner when AJ fought Jake Paul this past December.
Even so, few expected the level of commitment he has shown since then. During a visit to Joshua’s camp in Valencia, Spain, his promoter noticed something unexpected in AJ’s room.
“I opened the door, and there is one single bed in the room, right?” Eddie Hearn recalled. “And I’m like, ‘Is that your bed?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘Are you mad?’ He’s like, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘It’s a single bed, mate.’ I said, ‘You must have like 6 inches on one side of you, 6 inches on the other side, and your legs are dangling out the end.’ [He replied] ‘Oh, no. It’s so comfy. I love it.’”
Joshua’s stripped-down approach, where he’s willing to let go of luxury and comfort, surprised even Hearn.
Yet, as Hearn described, it’s hard to imagine the lengths a man would go to in order to put himself back on top.
Eddie Hearn‘s update comes after the announcements surrounding Joshua’s comeback fight against Prenga in July and the confirmation about a showdown with Tyson Fury at the end of the year. As such, AJ risks losing the much-anticipated Fury fight if he doesn’t get a win in Riyadh.
Anthony Joshua trains like never before with Tyson Fury fight at stake
Considering everything AJ has achieved in his career and the generational wealth that followed, including the $150 million net worth he currently has, the former champion really doesn’t need to put himself through these conditions.
Yet he is doing it anyway, and more than anything else, that convinced Hearn about his star fighter’s mindset.
“He is working harder right now than he’s ever worked in his life before, and I believe it will really pay dividends,” Hearn concluded.
The intensity of Joshua’s preparation becomes even more striking considering what he endured earlier this year.
Two of his close friends and team members, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele, lost their lives in a Nigerian car accident that Joshua narrowly escaped with minor injuries.
In many ways, his return to boxing reflects a fighter fully locked back in on the task ahead.
While the odds clearly favor the English heavyweight over the Albanian Kristin Prenga, one bad night could collapse everything tied to the Fury fight.
It’s been years since AJ and Fury were first linked to a matchup. Despite coming close on multiple occasions, the two sides drifted apart as negotiations repeatedly fell through.
Now, under Turki Alalshikh’s stewardship, the biggest names in British heavyweight boxing have finally come together to stage what many consider the biggest fight in British boxing history.
With AJ turning 37 and Fury 38 this year, both former champions are well past their peak years. Fury has already handled his side of the assignment by outboxing ranked contender Arslanbek Makhmudov last month.
Now it’s over to AJ to prove that all the sacrifice, isolation, and rebuilding still lead somewhere meaningful.
