Oleksandr Usyk has opened his training camp to Anthony Joshua, turning one of boxing’s fiercest rivalries into a working partnership as Joshua prepares for a tune-up bout against Kristian Prenga in Riyadh on July 25, 2026. The unlikely collaboration has unfolded across elite facilities in Spain and Ukraine, with Usyk now advising Joshua on boxing skills and psychology.
The timing matters because Joshua is expected to move on from Prenga and into a blockbuster year-end clash with Tyson Fury, while Usyk is preparing for a WBC title defense against Rico Verhoeven on May 23 in Egypt. Usyk, who has twice defeated Joshua and twice beaten Fury, said Joshua deserves the win and described his own edge as the Sweet Science, while also landing his familiar insult at Fury as “greedy belly.”
That makes the exchange more than a training-camp curiosity. Usyk has focused on enhancing Joshua’s ring IQ, and the article says Joshua has undergone a psychological and technical metamorphosis as he tries to reset his place in a heavyweight landscape still shaped by his losses to Usyk. For a division defined by ego and separation, the sight of two former rivals working side by side is the kind of rupture fighters usually avoid unless they believe there is something left to learn.
The broader reach of that shift is already visible beyond the ring. The article links the heavyweight resurgence to commercial and cultural ties stretching into East Africa, including Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, where local gyms such as Pal-Pal Gym have seen a surge in youth enrollment following the rise of African-heritage fighters back into the global top tier. It is a reminder that elite boxing now travels well beyond the arenas where the biggest names fight.
Usyk’s next assignment comes first, with his May 23 defense in Egypt, but the arrangement with Joshua suggests the heavyweight picture is tightening around a small group of elite names. A fighter who has beaten both Joshua and Fury twice is now helping shape Joshua’s next phase, and that may matter as much as any press conference or weigh-in before the year is out.