Tony Bellew has had the pleasure of seeing Anthony Joshua’s training camp up close and he’s impressed with what he’s seen from ‘AJ’ and Derrick James.
Joshua returns to the ring on Saturday night as he looks to put the misery of losing twice to Oleksandr Usyk behind him by getting back to winning ways against Jermaine Franklin.
Joshua is eager to regain the world titles he lost to Usyk and that starts this weekend, live worldwide on DAZN, with Franklin his first obstacle.
Bellew, a former world champion himself, recently travelled to Texas to watch Joshua under the studious eye of James and the now retired fighter is impressed with what he witnessed.
“I just think it’s only a matter of time before he’s fighting for the world heavyweight championship again,” said Bellew when speaking to talkSPORT.
“I really do, he looked absolutely phenomenal with Derrick James and averaged 200 punches per round which is unheard of at heavyweight. It’s tough mentally the place that he’s in at the minute but the team is a lot smaller. Everything about his training and his set-up is kind of Rocky-esque.
“So, he’s in great shape mentally and physically from what I can gather and what I’ve seen up close. I’m just looking forward to Saturday night. I can’t wait.”