Tim Bradley pulled no punches when assessing the recent heavyweight title match between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk. Last month, Usyk flipped the division upside down with his one-sided win over the Brit with many questions in the aftermath focused on Joshua’s approach.
Opting to box against Usyk rather than use his hefty height and weight advantage, Joshua had no answer to the Ukrainian's wizardry as he was well beaten on the scorecards. With a rematch likely to occur in the early stages of 2022, Tim Bradley, a former two-weight world champion, has questioned Joshua’s desire heading into that potential second meeting.
“It just seems like he’s comfortable with losing a fight,” said Bradley to FightHype when speaking about Joshua. “It’s hard to train and stay focused and stay dedicated and having that hunger and desire. Because success, that weakens [the mind], and I think in the [Andy] Ruiz fight that ruined him.
“I think that ruined his confidence. I think he’s also scared to get hit. He’s gun shy, don’t wanna throw because he’s afraid of getting hit so that’s why you didn’t see him throw. I mean, Usyk’s a small heavyweight but he does have some snap on his shots but he’s the bigger guy, he needs to act like he’s the bigger guy. It’s almost like he’s a big guy but he has a small guy mentality.”
Watch all the fallout from Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk.