Boxing: Anthony Joshua admits it’s ‘crazy’ facing Kubrat Pulev… six years after pretending to BE him

Anthony Joshua finds it ‘crazy’ having to now face the person he was once drafted in to emulate.

Around six years ago, AJ was drafted in by Wladimir Klitschko to mimic the Bulgarian heavyweight in training ahead of their title clash.

Joshua came in useful, in the end, with his sparring proving helpful to the Ukrainian and his KO win at that. Little did Wlad know that three years later, he would be getting KO’d himself by the Watford fighter.

Saturday December 12 marks the return of AJ to the ring as he takes on Pulev in a clash that will see his WBA, IBF and WBO title on the line.

Ahead of the bout, AJ has said:

“It’s crazy how the universe works. I’ve actually implemented some of the stuff Wladimir did in my training for this camp.”

Joshua has also heaped praise on his trainer Rob McCracken, who helped him achieve Olympic gold in 2012 and several heavyweight world titles in the years following.

After AJ’s shock upset to Andy Ruiz Jr. in 2019, many told AJ to ditch his mentor with even the likes of Lennox Lewis calling for him to upgrade.

AJ continued:

“Rob is the gaffer, I look at him like an Alex Ferguson, he is a great manager and trainer, so it was just about variety and being able to bring in different levels of greatness.”

Turning his attentions to Pulev, Joshua said:

“Pulev has very good balance and that is key.
"You can build skyscrapers on good foundations and nothing on rocky foundations. He is very well schooled.”

Joshua also then spoke about the latest addition to his training set-up, with the addition of Joby Clayton:

“Joby is a martial artist so this isn’t just about boxing for him. He is about lifestyle, he likes the old-school fighters from the 1970s and the Kronk Gym, where you can knock people out.”