How Overthinking Broke Anthony Joshua

[00:00:00]Fear comes in many forms.

[00:00:02]There's some things that [music] I can't get over and I'll always be scared of, but I take the positive from it.

[00:00:09]Like, I'm never so confident I'm going to win.

[00:00:12]>> [music] >> It's probably the fact that I'm scared to fail.

[00:00:23]>> Look at this face, this approach for a second. Not the physique, but the eyes.

[00:00:28]That's not a fighter reading his opponent. That's a fighter trying to read himself, second-guessing, running calculations he didn't need to run.

[00:00:34]However, before all this, there was a version of Anthony Joshua who didn't think. There was an instinctual fighting spirit within him, and [clears throat] it worked.

[00:00:55]But somewhere between the fighter and the one that will be stepping in with Tyson Fury later this year, something changed. And in today's video, I'm going to look at where this happened and whether he can unlearn it in time. But before we talk about what broke Anthony, [music] we need to talk about the baseline.

[00:01:10]When Joshua faced Klitschko in 2017, he actually had a very strong start, hurting Klitschko in the early rounds, very much using his youthful aggression against the old man. However, a moment of hesitation saw him get caught out, being dropped for the first time in his career.

[00:01:29]But complete credit to Anthony, he stuck in the fight and didn't retreat into a shell. He came out with a warrior spirit, finishing off the fight by letting his hands go and relying on his youthful energy to get the finish. It was a tremendous fight and performance, [music] and one where he had to dig deep to get the victory.

[00:01:47]But even after that, I felt we saw a change in Anthony Joshua's style. He was developing as a fighter. He couldn't just rely on his physicality all the time.

[00:01:55]>> Now, you said you were on the standard yesterday that you fix mistakes in in camp. What did you notice that you needed to fix this time around?

[00:02:04]>> The right hand will take you around the block. The jab will take you around the world. So, you have to perfect the jab and perfect boxing in range. Imagine we're boxing. We can be boxing out here trying to hit each other without getting hit. You've got to learn to get in range, defend the shots that are coming at you to be able to get your shots off.

[00:02:21]Do you know what I mean? So, perfecting these little things. Um but we can go over them. I'm not a coach.

[00:02:26]I'm just giving you what I've been taught. But it's the small things that make a massive difference.

[00:02:31]>> So, it was it was technical things rather than headspace things or fight experience things?

[00:02:35]>> Yeah, I think headspace is what you have to deal with in your day-to-day family issues, sometimes relationship issues, and so on and so forth.

[00:02:41]My coach isn't interested in that.

[00:02:43]He just teaches me like the fundamentals of boxing.

[00:02:46]>> As he [music] looked to have a more strategic mindset in the ring, looking to use his jab and footwork to set up his shots, especially as the opposition stepped up, which did help him pick up the WBO heavyweight title against Joseph Parker, or getting a solid win over the dangerous Alexander Povetkin, Joshua was refining himself into a boxer-puncher.

[00:03:05]But with a refreshingly simple approach, use the jab, hit hard, move well, and let your hands go when the opportunities arise. But as we know in boxing, sometimes any game plan can go very wrong.

[00:03:18]In June 2019, Anthony Joshua was scheduled to make his American debut in the Mecca of boxing in Madison Square Garden. After his original opponent, Jarrell Miller, failed a drugs test, there was a quick scramble to get a late replacement. And in this case, it was Andy Ruiz Jr. From the outside, for most casual fans, this was seen as an easy defense for Joshua due to the physique of Andy Ruiz. However, he'd already contended for a title against Joseph Parker, so he was someone not to get taken lightly. Round three, the fight is arguably the point in Joshua's career that everything changed. After dropping Ruiz in the inside with an uppercut-left combination. Very much looked like the routine finish was on the way. Joshua got caught coming forward trying to throw in the inside with Ruiz, only to get caught in the temple, shake him to his boots.

[00:04:04]>> Straight right.

[00:04:07]Ruiz comes TO FIRE BACK AND JOSHUA'S HURT.

[00:04:10]>> OH, JOSHUA GOES DOWN.

[00:04:13]>> AND HE WAS CAUGHT HIM WITH A SHARP LEFT HOOK. JOSHUA'S HURT.

[00:04:16]>> CLEAR-EYED, LOOKING TO THE EYES of Michael Griffin.

[00:04:20]But what an answer by Ruiz.

[00:04:23]>> He went down again in the same round, but he could never get his feet [music] back underneath him. As he got knocked down again in the seventh twice before the referee called off the fight. Here's the actual thesis. It's not that Joshua lost, fighters lose all the time. I guess it's how. He was hurt badly against someone who looks the complete opposite to him, chunky, overweight, but feeling like he had to prove a point on the night. And in this fight is where his own aggression put him exactly where he got caught. The Klitschko fight proved that Joshua could trust his instincts under fire. But Ruiz gave him a very good reason to stop trusting them. There is now a fear conditioning within Joshua, amygdala hijacked.

[00:05:02]Something where the brain can form a fast or low-level threat association to the conditions of that experience. And this doesn't just apply to a specific opponent, but the feeling of being hit hard or committing to an exchange creates that classical conditioning that it can happen again. Therefore, creating hesitation and a fear response [music] in some moments. In fact, I'd say lots of fighters have experienced that conditioning. But to stop that from happening, what came next wasn't a rebuilt, it was a redesign of his style built to make sure that feeling or situation wouldn't happen again.

[00:05:35]>> And I think that's why he's been at a high level.

[00:05:37]And everything we've always done has worked. So now we're just sharpening the tools again.

[00:05:41]You know, he went to war last time and there'll be a rust around some of the old uh your weaponry in the in the So, now we're just sharpening up before we go to war again, really.

[00:05:51]>> Training camp this time, I didn't plan for a different fight. I just planned to win. It's the same ring, [music] same principles, box to win. And that's exactly what we did.

[00:05:58]>> Straight away, the rematch worked on paper. And Joshua, having gone back to the drawing board, >> [music] >> changed up his whole approach, looking to box from the outside entirely, jabbing and picking his shots from distance, [music] hardly giving Ruiz any opportunity to load up and land his combinations.

[00:06:14]>> Under the desert air interior, Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua lock horns once more.

[00:06:22]>> So, the first bell goes, I come out. And what do I want to do?

[00:06:25]I want to trust in my [music] process.

[00:06:28]Or do I want to leave it to the gods of war? And one of my right hands or left hooks connects [music] on his chin. But that wasn't the case. I didn't want to leave anything to chance. So, I get to my stance and everything I've been working on in the gym.

[00:06:39]And I boxed [music] to perfection.

[00:06:41]I boxed to sweet science.

[00:06:42]I boxed to a masterclass performance. I boxed to rhythm and flow.

[00:06:47]I boxed to [music] the principles of boxing.

[00:06:49]To hit and not get hit. I'm looking. I'm looking. I see an opportunity that presents itself.

[00:06:54]Boom. I have busted [music] open. I go, "Yes, Andy."

[00:06:58]Solid guy. So, okay, let me just take my time.

[00:07:01]Right in the first fight I had, I had to learn from that [music] mistake.

[00:07:03]>> In the end, it was a comfortable decision, a smart fight. But it's also possibly the first sighting of the pattern [music] that defines the rest of his career.

[00:07:11]Winning by not engaging the way he did in the past, instead having a much more strategic boxing approach. And this was almost even seen in his next fight versus Pulev.

[00:07:21]After a cagey start, he did manage to find his distance before getting multiple knockdowns to get the finish.

[00:07:27]And after failed negotiations with Tyson Fury, the fight with Oleksandr Usyk was made. A smaller, natural cruiserweight moving up against a bigger puncher in Joshua. And having seen him struggle against Derek Chisora, he possibly may have felt he was big in size, but also feeling that his strategic approach would be enough to win these types of fights. That approach completely let him down in this fight. For the first four rounds of the fight, Joshua couldn't get a grip of the southpaw movement of Usyk, continually being turned and getting caught up in the lead hand battle that he was just never going to win.

[00:08:01]Constantly measuring, resetting, and not landing any combinations thrown at Usyk.

[00:08:07]And of course, falling into the trap of the cat. In a way, I was told he wasn't reacting to what Usyk was doing. He was reacting to what Usyk might do next.

[00:08:16]Always a step behind the Ukrainian. And of course, lost a wide decision. An emotional podium reaction after a disgruntled Joshua was clearly unhappy with the approach he made in the ring and that changes were required. And whether that was his trainer or himself, well, only he can truly know that. And for me, this is where the paralysis by analysis comes in for Anthony Joshua.

[00:08:39]You know, the psychology of choking under pressure. The idea is that skills are performed thousands of times become almost automatic and unconscious, but under threat or someone doing something different than usual, people start to consciously monitor their own movement step by step. It actually degrades that skill. There was a research paper done by Shawn Beilock and Thomas Carr, but specifically for golf putting and basketball free throws. And yes, I understand fighting is a very different mindset and threat, but it still applies in some way. Psychologists call it explicit monitoring, aka paralysis by analysis. The idea that skills we've drilled thousands of times run best on autopilot, but under real threat, the brain starts consciously supervising every movement instead of trusting it.

[00:09:25]And mentally supervising the movement for some can make them slower and more hesitant. You probably felt this at some point yourself. Think about if you were doing free throws with your friends playing basketball. No pressure until it's the shot to win the game. And suddenly your own arm is second-guessing the motion it's done [music] tens of thousands of times. Same applies in potting or pocketing a ball in pool, shooting the penalty kick, throwing a dart. But in fighting is when someone does something different, a movement you're not used to. What worked in the bag, pads, and sparring won't always necessarily come out the way you think in the ring. Many fighters freezing up due to that real threat of getting knocked out or hurt. The techniques and strategy that you worked on beforehand can go out the window.

[00:10:09]>> How did you assess your own performance tonight?

[00:10:12]>> Um it was a boxing match. Good 12 rounder.

[00:10:16]Um good experience.

[00:10:19]And uh look, I let a few people down.

[00:10:24]Um obviously people that support me. And then there's other people that thought I should have gone away with a different game plan. But at the end of the day, he won, I lost, and all I've got to do is get back to the drawing board, hustle, put in the work, and over the period of time I'm boxing just change the script and get another W, fight for the championship belts again, and get back on that gravy train.

[00:10:46]>> What do you believe you can do differently to beat him in the rematch?

[00:10:50]>> A few things, you know. A few things.

[00:10:54]Yeah, a few things to be fair. I watched the fight back already, and then there's a few things. When you're in there, it feels different.

[00:11:02]You know, when I'm in there, I wait you are certain fighters and I I got robbed.

[00:11:06]But when you go back and watch it, it's like, "Oh, that's the mistakes I was making."

[00:11:10]There's certain things that I know I can improve on for sure.

[00:11:13]>> Joshua, of course, being the proud and competitive man that he is, wanted to regain his championship belts. But before we even get to the rematch, you have to look at what happened between the two fights. Joshua parted ways with his long-term trainer Rob McCracken. And I personally don't necessarily think this is a bad A fighter's career is short, and they shouldn't have to feel they need to stay with someone. I agree loyalty can sometimes be beneficial, but other times it can be a hindrance as change can actually be a good thing for a fighter. It can re-motivate you and give you different ideas. In the case of leading up to this rematch, I don't necessarily think it was the right idea or he possibly went the wrong way about it, whether that was Joshua or his team.

[00:11:51]He still listen as he went on a tour of the American gyms looking for a replacement. Virgil Hunter, Eddy Reynoso, Ronnie Shields before eventually landing on Robert Garcia, someone that had led multiple world champions with a far more aggressive minded approach. But, he also kept in Angel Fernandez, another trainer he'd worked closely behind the scenes at Team GB. Maybe he wanted to keep some continuity, but it was still unclear who is really the voice in the corner. But, the whole process was just wrong and it's a well-documented psychological trap here as well called the paradox [music] of choice. The more good options a person has, harder it is to actually commit to that choice.

[00:12:27]>> I asked him who's the boss out of the two of them and they both said it isn't that kind of situation. They're both working alongside each other to get the right result on the night, but is there going to be two voices on the night? What's going to happen?

[00:12:40]>> I don't know, Kugan.

[00:12:41]>> I don't know. I don't really care.

[00:12:44]Like, that's why I let them two work it out because last time I tried to work it out, I wanted to put the team together.

[00:12:49]This time I've let them do their thing and said, "You guys, you work it out. I trust you guys." And as I said, there's no like, "Oh, I'm the boss, so you shut up. You can't say anything."

[00:12:58]>> Bro, if if one of the coaches tell >> me to keep my hands up. They're going to tell me a million things in the corner.

[00:13:03]Keep it simple. One of them tell me to keep my hands up and the other one says keep on throwing punches. You do that and you do that.

[00:13:08]Hands up and throw punches. So, I'm just trying to say let's not overcomplicate who's the boss and who's got to shut up, who's allowed to talk. It shouldn't be like that.

[00:13:15]>> In the rematch though, I think there was improvements from Joshua. He was much more aggressive, followed the game plan he should have probably employed in the first instead of looking to box as Garcia's pressure-first game plan was visibly working, even hurting Usyk to the body at moments. However, it wasn't enough as Usyk also proved his greatness to adapt and winning the fight by a split decision. At the same time, boxing is very much a thinking man's sport much as it is physical. However, when you have someone in front of you that can play high-speed chess while you're playing checkers, it's never going to end well. It's safe to say Joshua didn't take it well. Soon after the fight, Joshua would split from Robert Garcia teaming up with Errol Spence's former trainer Derrick James, going on to make two comeback performances, which for the most part were pretty unconvincing.

[00:14:01]Joshua seemed to have changed his style once again coming a lot more defensively cautious against two fighters that just weren't on his level. Although the Robert Helenius fight was a last-minute replacement for a fight with Dillian Whyte and maybe that would have brought back a little bit of spice. But due to Derrick James' location in Texas and also having other fighters training under him, the scheduling and training camps just didn't seem to suit Joshua.

[00:14:25]As he once again decided to look closer to home teaming up with Tyson Fury's former trainer in Ben Davison. Now Joshua had a more strategic technical approach, something similar to what he did in the rematch versus Ruiz looking to outthink and set up his opponents with bigger shots having two successful fights against Otto Wallin while getting a devastating knockout over MMA star Francis Ngannou.

[00:14:52]But hesitation is never too far away.

[00:14:55]2025, he faced Daniel Dubois to try become a three-time heavyweight world champion. A live heavy-handed opponent who is willing to give everything.

[00:15:03]Unlike Joshua and no disrespect, not much of a thinker. And what I mean by that is that he goes in and does the job not for analyzing every moment. And that is a problem with over strategic thinkers. If something doesn't play out the way you think and you can't quickly react in time, it can go very wrong. And the moments where that has gone wrong for Joshua seem to have followed him ever since that night in Madison Square Garden in 2019.

[00:15:35]And after over a year at the ring, Joshua would step in the ring with Jake Paul. And even though there was ring rust, and Jake Paul was running for the majority of the fight, there was still a little bit of the instinctual fighter looking to take him out.

[00:15:54]But the quality of the opponent was always going to give them the opportunity to land something big. But 9 days after beating Jake Paul, Joshua's life was interrupted by something [music] no fight can prepare a person for.

[00:16:06]As he was in a horrendous car crash, whereby a miracle survived only with minor injuries.

[00:16:12]>> [music] >> However, lost his two closest friends and two members of his team.

[00:16:16]This is a traumatic experience, not just for Joshua, but anyone. And he's [music] talked about wanting to carry their goals forward for their families. And I guess in a way that's as much as we're entitled to know and what he's carrying.

[00:16:29]>> [music] >> The rest is his process at this point.

[00:16:31]It's not for me to narrate. And boxing has its own history of fighters [music] surviving serious accidents and going through trauma. So don't think it's not possible someone can make a comeback.

[00:16:42]Vinny Paz broke [music] his neck in a car crash in 1991 and was told he would never walk again, let alone fight.

[00:16:48]However, he came back to win a world title. Errol [music] Spence Jr. being another one, being involved in another car crash himself with serious [music] injuries and still managed to come back and defend his titles. However, you can make the case he was never the same man.

[00:17:02]But maybe the difference [music] between these two is although Joshua walked away, I'm not going to pretend to know what that does to a person [music] when they walk into the ring again. But it is an important question to consider. As I've mentioned throughout this video, [music] does it add another layer of hesitation? Does it push him on to stop overthinking? We'll only find out when he steps in there.

[00:17:21]Joshua has now teamed up with Usyk's former training team, joining the system that beat him in the first place. And in no way do I think he's going to try box like Oleksandr Usyk, or them trying to implement how he fights, but I certainly hope he takes some of the mental lessons as he goes into a fight with the likes of Tyson Fury. And with four losses on his record now, maybe there isn't a fear defeat. But the thing is, looking back at history, losing doesn't have to be a permanent thing. People can reinvent themselves. George Foreman lost Ali, then to a Jimmy Young years later before walking away from the sport for good. He came back 10 years later though, reinventing himself and becoming the oldest heavyweight champion we've ever seen. Even other fighters such as Evander Holyfield lost to Riddick Bowe or Michael Moorer before being the underdog and beating Mike Tyson.

[00:18:07]Wladimir Klitschko was another one that lost twice early in his career, being known as a [music] chinny fighter, only to reinvent himself and go on to have one of the most dominant heavyweight runs we've ever seen. Well, Lennox [music] Lewis was knocked out by Oliver McCall, still went on to become undisputed heavyweight champion anyway, avenging his losses not once, but [music] twice. None of these fighters got there by staying the same version of themselves. They, just like Joshua, had to make changes, not in what just did work, but what didn't. And maybe that's the tightrope Joshua is walking on right now. A fight with Tyson Fury has reportedly been agreed now for later this year. The biggest British boxing fight in a generation, if not ever. But first, he must get past the hard-hitting Christian Pringuer, as this will be the last evidence we get before Tyson Fury.

[00:18:51][music] And if an overthinking fighter shows up against him, well, we know how that can go. And if you guys want to watch that fight, you can scan the QR code on screen or use the link in the description below. Well, if you're a new DAZN customer, you can get 10% off the pay-per-view by using the code boxinglife10 [music] to get 10% off. So, to finish up, here's the actual question I have. Does Anthony Joshua walk into the Fury fight as he did against Klitschko all those years ago, or will he be the one overthinking as we've seen for the last 6 years? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. As always, this has been Jamie from Boxing Life. Thank you so much for watching. If you want to see Joshua in his early days, I recommend checking out this video. [music] As always, I'll see you in the next one.