Anthony Joshua showed off his raw power by breaking the head of an axe whilst chopping wood.
Joshua, 34, is a fan of old-school training methods he recently labelled another former two-time heavyweight champion in Earnie Shavers as one of his inspirations. 'AJ' prepared for his fight against Jermaine Franklin in April by utilising training methods made famous by Rocky Balboa in the film franchise, such as chopping down trees, and the Brit he kept with the unorthodox methods since his recent win.
Whilst swinging an axe into a big log, the head of it comes off much to the amazement of Joshua's peers. "That's it, that's it. That's four now," Joshua says in the video, seemingly referring to the number of axes he has broken. 'AJ' said he started to chop before his last fight to improve his power, telling talkSPORT : I've been focusing more on old school methods, strength and conditioning is a big part of sport now.
"I was just doing some research on boxing and come across Earnie Shavers, who was known as one of the strongest punchers out there. He used to chop wood and that was their form of calisthenics, strength and conditioning. I think there's a difference between strength and conditioning inside and outside of training camp. I think chopping trees and chopping wood is good for rotational power, from what I was researching anyway. It also makes good Instagram content!"
Joshua is hoping to return to action in August before potentially facing Deontay Wilder in the Middle East at the end of the year. Tyson Fury's promoter Frank Warren has claimed they sent a written proposal to Joshua's team for a fight in September, but 'AJ' opted to turn down the offer.
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"Last week, a written proposal was sent to Matchroom for AJ to fight Tyson in September. Eddie Hearn came back and spoke to my son George, who said it will take a couple of days to see where they are with it. Couple of days went by and George met yesterday with AJ’s management company.
“They confirmed that AJ is fighting in Dubai in December, that is his preferred route. There is a space open in August but they basically do not want to do the fight. That is what happened. When Tyson said there was a draft contract, what happened is we had prepared a draft contract the last time we had negotiations."
