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Boxing

Anthony Joshua will use 'aggressive mindset' in rematch with Oleksandr Usyk says Richard Riakporhe

Anthony Joshua will use 'aggressive mindset' in rematch with Oleksandr Usyk says Richard RiakporheMark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing

Fight fans are expecting to see a different Anthony Joshua when he steps into the ring to face WBA, WBO and IBF world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk for a second time in Saudi Arabia on August 20.

Joshua lost his three world title belts to Usyk last September after being beaten convincingly by the Ukrainian on points at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. 

As a result of this dissapointing performance, Joshua made a number of changes to his training team, removing head trainer Robert McCracken and replacing him with Angel Fernandez and Robert Garcia. 

The hope is that Fernandez and Garcia can make Joshua a more aggressive fighter inside the ring, and British cruiserweight Richard Riakporhe, who trains under Fernandez, believes this will be the case. 

"Both of them [Robert Garcia and Angel Fernandez] have a similar type of mentality - very, very aggressive. Very aggressive coaches, that's their tactics. They don't mind going in," Riakporhe told Sky Sports.

"All they care about is going into war, going to war but with intelligence. But we're going to have to impose our will on our opponent. That's the philosophy and it's all about knockouts. 

"That's all they care about, honestly, knock them out and then it's about how they get knocked out. Because you can't go in there just throwing bombs and not expect things back. You obviously have to be really strategic. It's all about the results and that's all they care about.

"Garcia, one thing that I've learned about him, he does bring that mentality, that Mexican style mentality - it's OK to take one, to give them two."

One of the main criticisms of Joshua's performance in the first fight was that he tried to outbox an opponent who has superior ability instead of using his strength to overpower Usyk. 

Now after watching a few Joshua training sessions in prepartion for this rematch with Usyk, Riakporhe doesn't expect the two-time world champion to use a similar strategy from the first fight. 

"I've been seeing how he's been performing in training and he's definitely not going to be trying to do that boxing stuff that he did last year," Riakporhe said.

"You're going to see that old school fighter. I know because he's been training like that.

"That's the type of mentality that they have. Kill or be killed. That's what I've adopted and it's just changed everything. You can feel the aura, you can see it. You can see that guy's a dangerous man. I think this is what you're going to see from Joshua on August 20, you're going to see something different."

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