Anthony Joshua was living a ‘prison lifestyle’ before crushing Oleksandr Usyk defeat

Anthony Joshua’s sparring partner Isaac Okoh has revealed that AJ was living a ‘prison lifestyle’ in preparations for his second fight with Oleksandr Usyk. According to Okoh, all Joshua did throughout camp was train at the gym and then go back to his room to eat or sleep.

“I know that when we were in Loughborough, he was in the campus of the uni, going to the gym and he’d go back to his room, eat and that’s it. It was like living a prison kind of lifestyle in the camp,” Okoh told Sky Sports.

“It was the same in Jeddah. He’d go to the gym, go back to the hotel, eat, sleep and just the same thing. Doing that for a long time at such a high intensity and training for such a big event, it’s hard,” he continued. To stay focused for that long, it must be hard. I haven’t been in that situation.”

Joshua would go on to lose the fight via split decision and after the contest, he dumped the Ring Magazine and WBA (super) belts out of the ring before making a beeline for the tunnel – only to return shortly after to seize the microphone and deliver a bizarre speech.

“Especially coming off the back of the first defeat [to Usyk], the pressure he must have been under must have been immense. Obviously, he’s got to try and keep it all together because he’s so much in the public eye that he has to remain calm and be the role model.

“He’s genuinely a great person and he is genuinely a role model. But obviously, when you’re in high-intensity fights like that, it’s hard. It’s a big weight on your shoulders to carry. Massive fights, stadium fights, stupid amount of numbers on the audience, big press conferences, he’s just always in the public eye. So, it must be hard. It’s going to take its toll at some point.”

Joshua is now looking to stay active after taking long gaps between fights in recent years. He is expected to return to the ring in December against a currently undisclosed opponent. Among the possibilities are Dillian Whyte and Deontay Wilder.