Sergio Mora believes that Anthony Joshua is reticent to take the fight to opponents after his knockout to Andy Ruiz Jr.
Joshua lost his three belts at the weekend to Oleksandr Usyk, and he appeared reluctant to use his size and strength to dominate the Ukrainian.
Mora believes that the reasons are linked to the first time he lost the championships against Ruiz in June 2019, when he was knocked out.
“Biggest surprise was that the bigger man didn't fight like a heavyweight champion of the world,” he said on JABS as part of the DAZN Boxing Show. “He fought the smaller man's fight. He was following around the faster hand, the faster feet, of Usyk. He was just following him around the ring, not cutting off the ring, not using the three inches in height, the four inches of reach, the almost 20 pounds in weight.
“That's what you got to do. When you're the heavyweight champion fighting a smaller man, you got to impose that will, especially when you're getting close to the road. You got to try to make it a little bit rough in there, a little bit tough in there. And we saw flashes when AJ was able to catch Usyk to the body - that caught Usyk’s attention. Before Usyk caught a second, when Joshua was sure that that was his time to put the pressure on him, physical pressure on to Usyk, and that's what will break him down. But we didn't see that in Joshua. For whatever reason, we didn't see it. But that's the only way that you're going to be a faster, superb fighter, and a boxer like Usyk is just wearing them down with your physical advantages.”
Mora pointed to Joshua’s recent fights against Ruiz and his win over Kubrat Pulev.
“And this is what happens when a champion finally does get knocked out and beat up,” Mora said.
“He loses that that that that hunger, he loses that that willingness to lay it on the line, and you saw that in Anthony Joshua's eyes. You saw glimpses, but then like you said in the Pulev fight, he saw glimpses of doubt in this last fight and, of course, against Andy Ruiz. It’s shell shock - that's why a fighter will never be the same after getting knocked out because there's doubt in his brain. The thing that makes fighters special is the fact that they've never faced that that adversity of being hurt, of being knocked out, or being embarrassed, or being challenged, or not being good enough.
“And then finally, when you do meet that adversary, you need to find another gear. You need to find that dog. You need to find that eye of the tiger. Joshua was not showing any of that - he's regressing not only in doubt but in style and in hunger. He needs to find it somewhere man because we're starting to see glimpses of it, and the world has seen it. I don't know where you find it.”