Nick Peet | Usyk vs Joshua 2

ANTHONY Joshua will need the performance of his life if he is to become a three-time heavyweight champion of the world out in Saudi Arabia this weekend.

Oleksandr Usyk boxed AJ’s socks off at Tottenham’s Stadium back in September, but a rematch clause in the contract means the Brit gets the opportunity to quickly amend just the second defeat of his career.

The heavyweight championship will once again be on the line in Jeddah, where Joshua, 32, can match Lennox Lewis’ resume as Olympic gold medalist turned three-time heavyweight champ, secured by winning rematches of his two career defeats.

However, whilst Lennox – the greatest British boxer in history – easily avenged shock KO defeats to Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman during his iconic 42-2 campaign, Joshua’s loss to Usyk was something quite different.

Andy Ruiz was slain in a similar vein. The Mexican being outboxed in Saudi six months after he outgunned an out-of-sorts Joshua in New York City in 2019.

But the Usyk defeat is far harder to bounce back from. Joshua didn’t have a bad night, Usyk, 35, is just a far more skilled pugilist.

That fact was highlighted also by AJ’s abysmal tactics. Trying to outbox a boxer is folly. You fight a boxer and box a fighter.

You also need to throw more than single shots against southpaws. But combination punching can expose your chin, especially against a fighter with faster hands.

Putting himself at risk wasn’t a problem for Joshua when he was riding high in the division. His outstanding Wembley 11^th round TKO of Wladimir Klitschko remains the biggest of his career. But AJ in 2022 is a different animal to that of 2017.

Perhaps it was the knockout loss to Ruiz that did it. Forcing AJ to try and evolve; to use his reach and height advantage to extend his success, like Lewis, behind a strong, patient jab.

That disciplined approach worked against the likes of Joe Parker and Alexander Povetkin. But Usyk is a different level. Like his lightweight pal Vasyl Lomachenko, he’s a master of his craft.

You have to gamble your chin, your career, your legacy, to defeat a man capable of schooling you at the noble art. And I’m not sure AJ has that dog in him anymore.

Unsurprisingly, Mexican-American trainer Robert Garcia has been shipped in as a fresh voice in AJ’s ear to try and rebuild him psychologically. After all, physicality was never the problem.

But even the acclaimed trainer will need to deliver the gameplan of his career to turn AJ’s fortunes around against Usyk, who looked capable of stopping Joshua in the first fight. In the closing stages, he held back.

Add into the mix the situation in Ukraine, a war zone Usyk literally left behind to press ahead with the fight to not only motivate his countrymen, who get to watch for free on terrestrial TV, but also to urge the watching world to support calls for peace.

I tipped Usyk, the undefeated former unified cruiserweight champion, for victory last year and I’ve seen nothing in Joshua to lead me to believe he’s capable of reversing his fortunes second time around.

AJ’s got a handful of rounds to catch Usyk clean and keep him down before his huge frame starts working against him.

But more likely is another boxing masterclass from Usyk leading to a definitive second half stoppage from the pound-for-pound best boxer on the planet.