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Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk paid homage to the celebrated Rocky III training montage, as their unlikely rivals-to-allies partnership continues to blossom.
Following a car crash in Nigeria last December that tragically killed two close friends, Joshua has trained this year in Spain and Ukraine alongside his former adversary, who has beaten him twice in the ring.
Usyk posted an Instagram video on Saturday of the pair racing on a beach to the Rocky music, recreating the iconic scene between Sylvester Stallone and Carl Weathers’ characters.
The tribute is particularly poignant, as Stallone’s Rocky Balboa and Weathers’ Apollo Creed also boxed each other twice in the film before becoming training partners and close friends.
“This isn’t a movie remake, it’s a new story being created right now,” Usyk wrote in the caption.
The video also features the duo punching the heavy bag and interacting as they ready themselves for imminent fights, with Joshua set to return to the ring against Kristian Prenga on 25 July.
The bout against the Albanian heavyweight in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is expected to be a tune-up before Joshua takes on Tyson Fury in a long-awaited ‘Battle of Britain’ towards the end of the year.
According to Joshua’s promoter Hearn, who spoke to The Independent and other publications on Tuesday, the old rivals’ joint-training has given AJ “an unbelievable lift”.
“When I was there, he’d be doing these circuits, like he’s doing these tempo sprints,” Hearn said.
“Most people do those sprints on their own, with nothing else attached; he would do his sprints, then he’d go over and do this kettle-bell circuit, then he’d do sledge – with this f***ing big fitness trainer standing on the sledge.
“Then he’d go back into the sprints. I’m like: ‘What the f***?’
“When he started, I went to the guy: ‘How many are you doing?’ He went, ‘Three, because he’s just coming back to training.’ I went, ‘Three, is that all?’ because I thought that was all [he was doing, sprints].
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“He went: ‘Okay, we’ll do five.’ AJ went: ‘F***, mate, you’re never coming back!’
Usyk, the two-time undisputed world heavyweight champion, is set to defend his WBC title against renowned kickboxer Rico Verhoeven in Egypt in a fortnight.
