Anthony Joshua has two wins and two losses in his last four fights. 

In June 2019, his world and undefeated career came crashing down when he was dropped four times and stopped by Andy Ruiz in the seventh round in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Six months later in Saudi Arabia, Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) regained his WBO, WBA, IBF and IBO heavyweight titles when he exacted revenge against Ruiz by mostly outboxing his conqueror, who was greatly out of shape in the rematch. 

After outclassing his IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev in nine rounds during their December 2020 fight, Joshua didn’t have the same success against his WBO mandatory challenger in Oleksandr Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs), who handily defeated Joshua by unanimous decision in September. 

Joshua reflected on his second career loss in an interview with Sky Sports. 

“I have high expectations of myself,” said Joshua. “That’s why I felt like when I lost the first time [to Ruiz] I never made excuses but I had my reason. I took my loss but I knew I would get it back. So I just brushed that one. But this one hurt because I was 100%. There were no problems. Everything was cool. I just went in there and just lost to the better man on the night, and it hurt. But it gave me motivation to pull myself out of that position. Mentally it killed me, and I fought my way back, and I will redeem myself.”

Joshua is slated for a rematch against Usyk in April in the United Kingdom, according to Matchroom Boxing head Eddie Hearn. In preparation for the fight, Joshua has been going through a comprehensive training reevaluation, which has included gym visits with Eddy Reynoso, Robert Garcia, Ronnie Shields and Virgil Hunter across the United States. 

More recently, Joshua was training under the watchful eye of Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Dubai. 

Joshua hasn’t announced a decision on whether or not he’s moving on from longtime coach Rob McCracken, but he is announcing plans to revisit his routine and regiment. 

“Let’s focus on quality [of training]. Let’s focus on what’s needed. It has to come from the top-down. I’m the last piece of the puzzle. I’m the last performance,” said Joshua. “So we’re talking about gameplanning, mindset, brain training, our approach to sparring and what we’re getting out of it, dietary needs, sleep, recovery, mindset training to what I’m listening to musically, motivational speeches, and stuff like that. This is the biggest stage of my career, fighting for the heavyweight championship of the world.

“I belong on the big stage. I belong as a champion. I belong amongst the names of this current generation. If I didn’t fight the best, I may have never lost [in my career]. I know people have high expectations of me as well, and I think that’s why they are so shocked [when I lose].” 

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com