Anthony Joshua has only sparred with one professional in the build-up to his fight with Oleksandr Usyk, according to one of his partners.
The world heavyweight champion understands that Usyk is going to shape up with more of an amateur style than his most recent opponents like veteran professionals Kubrat Pulev and Andy Ruiz, and has built his camp accordingly.
And that is the reason he has brought in a number of top amateurs, including Marko Milun, who says that Joshua is unlikely to get into a "war", but instead a chess match of sorts.
He told the Betway Insider Blog : " I think he chose me and other amateurs as sparring partners because he needed guys similar to Usyk.
"Usyk fights like an amateur boxer more than a normal professional and maybe that’s why he wanted me and Viktor Jurk and other amateurs, the only professional in camp was Shokran Parwani when I was there."
And Milun, having sparred dozens of rounds now with the unified heavyweight champion, believes that he will defeat Usyk given his physical advantages over the man who made his name as a legendary cruiserweight champion.
"I saw in camp that AJ is really smart and he does the right things and I think he'll win this fight," he continued,
"Usyk is also smart but I think AJ has better qualities; he’s bigger, stronger and can punch harder. He has worked hard for this and I think he’ll beat him.
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"AJ will be at home, the crowd will be behind him and my prediction is AJ will win comfortably. But I will tell you that this will be a smart fight, not a war."
Joshua was a hero of Milun's before he received an Instagram DM asking him to join up with the camp, having watched the star on TV as heavyweight champion.
And he says that the experience not only with Joshua but with his teammates has changed things for him going forward.
"It has been a dream come true to be involved in Joshua’s camp," Milun continued. "I was just watching him on TV and then I had a message on Instagram asking me to come spar with AJ, I said: ‘of course’.
"In the ring, Joshua is very clever and smart. He knows what to do and he does it in the right way, he does everything in the right way.
"I grew a lot in the time I spent with him, learnt a lot of things that I did not know. Working with Angel Fernandez and Joby Clayton, they made me a little better.
"AJ for me was very surprising, he was very humble. He was like a guy from the local club, not the heavyweight champion, he spoke to us like a normal person. That surprised me.
