Undefeated WBO cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie has called for his manager Anthony Joshua to fight more like Tyson Fury in his rematch against conqueror Oleksandr Usyk.
The 31-year-old Joshua 24-2 (22) relinquished his WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles to Ukrainian southpaw Usyk 19-0 (13) by unanimous decision at Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium in Tottenham, England late last month.
All three judges scored the bout for former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk, 34, with scores of 117-112, 115-113 and 116-112.
Brit Joshua attempted to box with the master boxer and while he had pockets of success, it was not enough to win the fight.
He has since enacted the rematch clause in his contract with the return bout expected to take place in the first quarter of 2022.
“He was in there with a world class fighter, a generational talent,” Okolie said to the Daily Mail.
“It’s not just a case of you doing this and that happens. There’s another person in there trying to prevent that and knock you out. There’s stuff AJ can do to try and change the way the fight looks and feels and I think he will.
“But in terms of his performance, he tried his best and it wasn’t good enough on the day. You have to just say Usyk was great that night and AJ has to work on certain things to beat that style.”
Okolie cited WBC heavyweight champion Fury’s performance against Deontay Wilder earlier this month at the blueprint Joshua should apply in the rematch.
As the naturally bigger man, Fury 31-0-1 (22) out-muscled Wilder 42-2-1 (41) and used his weight on the inside to lean on the former champion and take the steam out of his legs.
It was an effective strategy. Despite Fury being dropped twice in the fourth, it was Wilder who was down three times in the fight with Fury grinding him down to an 11th round knockout.
“As you saw with Fury and Wilder, Wilder is an exceptional fighter, an exceptional puncher,” Okolie said. “But Fury decided, you know what, I’m 277-pounds and I’m going to let you know it. He pushed him back, he rallied through the hard rounds, ground him down and got the stoppage. I believe AJ can do something similar.
“Of course AJ is a talented boxer, but Usyk is an extremely talented boxer. Nine out of 10 heavyweights aren’t going to try and box Usyk, they’re going to go in there and say ‘I am a natural heavyweight, let me show you.’
“I believe AJ does that and alongside the boxing skills he has, he’ll get it done. He relied a bit too much on his boxing ability, where sometimes you have to remember it’s a contact sport, so go in there and make contact.”
Okolie won the vacant WBO 200-pound belt against Polish southpaw Krzysztof Glowacki by sixth-round knockout in March.
He has since defended the strap by third-round knockout against Dilan Prasovic on the Joshua-Usyk undercard.
