Oleksandr Usyk is more concerned by his son’s schooling than his upcoming fight with Anthony Joshua, he claims.
The 34-year-old Ukrainian is the WBO mandatory challenger to three-belt champion Joshua, and he faces the 31-year-old Briton on September 25 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Speaking to The Sun, Usyk said: “At the moment I don’t think about Anthony Joshua. I don’t think about what he will do, what he will use or how he will box.
“I have a little bit of timing to finish my training camp now, I might think about it then.
“Right now I think more about how my son feels at school because he has just started first grade and he really did not want to go and do it.
“But everything is fine now, he seems to have calmed down. So I probably think more about that than what Anthony Joshua will do in the ring.”
Usyk’s last fight came against Derek Chisora, and the 37-year-old British fighter believes Joshua will be too powerful. Usyk denies thus.
He said: “I am very grateful to all those that support me and everything else but they expect too much from athletes.
“Some of them very much do not understand what is happening in the ring, how difficult it is or, in some cases, how easy it is. People just have an image that they think up.
“The fact is I boxed Derek for 12 rounds but he is actually a very difficult guy to beat. If you look at his two fights with Tyson Fury then he has gone 22 rounds with him.”