We were expecting a leaner Anthony Joshua but few would have anticipated Michael Buffer to announce Joshua’s weight as 17st 4lbs on Friday.
‘AJ’ weighed in surprisingly light ahead of his heavyweight unification clash with New Zealand’s Joseph Parker in Cardiff on Saturday night.
Throughout his training camp, we saw Joshua gradually part ways with some muscle mass, particularly from his shoulders, as he aimed to be lighter on his feet for the challenge of Parker, who came in at 16st 12lbs.
As has been the case in recent years, Joshua enlisted the help of esteemed nutritionist Mark Ellison, who also works with Manchester United, to guide him with his dietary requirements.
Joshua doesn’t take any shortcuts when preparing for fights, particularly since he’s become a world champion and has been dragged into deeper waters in his pair of most recent outings.
Ellison receives Joshua’s training schedule every Sunday and then he outlines the daily diet for the reigning WBA, IBF and IBO heavyweight champion.
Heavy days
For Joshua’s more strenuous training days, Ellison makes sure that the 28-year-old takes in an astonishing 5,000 calories to ensure that he is properly fueled at all times.
“On heavy days we ramp up the carbs,” Ellison told the BBC. “He may have desserts added in, a meringue nest with some fresh fruits maybe. Meringues are great as they are high in carbs, a bit of protein but very low in fat.
“He’s brilliant and doesn’t need much pushing with buying into the nutrition. The only thing he struggles with is getting in the ice baths and also monitoring his recovery as we try to get him to record his sleep, mood and muscle soreness, so we can make adjustments.”
Light days
On a light day, Joshua will consume 3,000 calories which will include a breakfast of a smoothie, egg white omelette, smoked salmon, avocado and gluten-free toast.
He will ensure he has enough energy for training with an electrolyte gel or sports drink and recover from that session with a protein shake.
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For lunch, he’s looking at a baked chicken breast served with edameme linguine, steamed vegetables, roasted yellow pepper and tomato sauce.
Some Moroccan chicken with rice and kale will see Joshua through his second session of the day.
An example of dinner on a light day would be mustard-marinated fillet steak with seasoned cabbage and asparagus, beetroot and carrot salad, and steamed golden Yukon potatoes.
‘AJ’ sees out his 3,000 calories with a chocolate, coconut and vanilla shake.
Perfect weight for Parker
It’s no coincidence that Joshua weighed in almost a stone lighter for the Parker fight than he did ahead of his last outing against Carlos Takam.
“It’s the perfect weight, I think, for the fighter I’m about to face tomorrow because he’s nimble, he’s quick,” Joshua said.
Joshua comes in to rapturous noise and weighs in at 17st 4lbs 2oz
His lightest for six fights!
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“I’ve got boxing skill and I can control him but the lighter I am, the more I’ll be able to match him for speed and I’ll be able to be in and out of range.
“So I can go first, land my shots, move out and come back again.
“I feel great and that’s what we’ve been working on in rehearsals, in sparring and in training. We just have to put all those pieces of the puzzle together tomorrow evening.”
