Olympic silver medal winner Joe Joyce will be a very interested observer in the upcoming rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua.

Joyce is the WBO's mandatory challenger to the upcoming rematch.

Last September, Usyk made a big statement when he outboxed Joshua over twelve rounds to capture the WBO, IBF, IBO, WBA world titles.

The rematch happens on August 20th in Saudi Arabia.

Joyce used to spar with Joshua on a regular basis when the two boxers were members of the Team GB amateur squad.

He says Joshua must become an offensive fighter to have a chance to beat Usyk.

"Unless Joshua can really change his style and also become an offensive fighter again [he won't beat Usyk]. When we were on the GB squad I always used to like going to toe to toe with him, that used to be fun. But then all of a sudden he was kind of bit more [on the] back foot," Joyce told Sky Sports.

"[Against Usyk] he seemed very tidy in his technique and his footwork and everything. But he was trying to outbox Usyk. Maybe it was Usyk that was keeping him away. But he seemed very clinical. He could have roughed him up a bit more inside and took a few chances with pot shots."

Joyce explains that Joshua reverts to being a defensive fighter when he senses there is danger.

"Especially with the [Andy] Ruiz Jr rematch he probably went into that defensive on the back foot [mode]. [He] was kind of scared to engage. I guess rightly so because he must have seen the shadow of Ruiz putting him down. Even [Wladimir] Klitschko put him down and he was in trouble for a whole round when they fought. Klitschko, if he'd been more an offensive fighter, he could have taken him out there. [Usyk] already knew what to do in the first fight, he went straight to work. So this fight he's already beaten him. So he knows exactly what to do again. He's probably three, four moves ahead of him. So it's a tough one," Joyce said.