Tony Bellew believes that Anthony Joshua has the best physique in heavyweight boxing since Mike Tyson and will pose the undefeated Oleksandr Usyk a fresh challenge.
Joshua is set to take on his mandatory WBO challenger Usyk this September after the collapse of the three-belt champion’s proposed tie with Tyson Fury.
Speaking on the DAZN Boxing Show, the service’s new commentator Bellew explained how things might go for Joshua against Usyk.
“AJ he is going to try and jump on Usyk but not the same way Del did - Dell is going to do it with no kind of skill or intelligence at all,” he began.
“Usyk is somebody who likes to look at the first two rounds and believe me, I know this from experience. Unfortunately, he's someone who looks in the first couple of rounds, and then he starts making adjustments from round three onwards - it's so hard to catch him.
“The difference with AJ, he's a physical specimen. The best physical specimen the heavyweight division has seen in 20 years, easy. I think he is physically the best heavyweight I've seen since a prime Mike Tyson.”
Bellew then suggested that Joshua would have to show patience to make the most of his superiority.
“AJ is that kind of fighter who can get closer all the time and stay there, there's not going to be nowhere for Usyk to go. But that's going to take time to get him to stay still,” he began.
“I think it will take four or five, maybe six rounds until he starts nailing him clean with the two/three-punch combinations. I think at that stage, he may be beyond on points even. But I think he will catch up with them. You know, from round six onwards and I do think it's an AJ victory. But make no mistake about it. It's a very, very hard fight and an even harder fight now that he's taking Lomachenko on board.”