Lawrence Okolie believes Anthony Joshua has ‘more than what it takes to win the rematch’ against Oleksandr Usyk.
Okolie fought and beat Dilan Prašović on the undercard of the heavyweight title fight to successfully defend his WBO cruiserweight belt, while Joshua was well beaten by Usyk to cede his IBF, WBA, and WBO titles.
Joshua has exercised an immediate rematch clause ‘in principle’ according to Usyk’s representatives, and speaking to the DAZN Boxing Show, Okolie suggested that a chastening defeat is an opportunity for the beaten fighter.
“It's very different sparring four southpaws and fighting Usyk for 12 rounds,” Okolie explained.
“I don't think there's massive changes he needs to make. Once you humble yourself, not saying he's not humble, but once you humble yourself and understand, ‘I'm not going to be the most technical boxer, so I'm not going to do a jab and jab and slip and slip with someone. I'm going to go now. This is what I've got over my opponent. This is what he has over me. This is what I need to implement over my opponent. And this is what I need to stop him from doing.’
“Once he's able to get that, I think he's got more than what it takes to win the rematch.”