OLEKSANDR USYK tricked Anthony Joshua into fighting him by holding back against Derek Chisora, claimed Carl Froch.
Usyk was taken all the way to a close points decision on the scorecards by Chisora in October 2020.
The Ukrainian maintained his mandatory title shot at Joshua's belts but raised questions over his ability at heavyweight.
Two years later and Usyk twice beat Joshua, leaving Froch to believe the ex-cruiserweight king pulled a fast one.
He said on his YouTube channel: “That night against Chisora, he just took his time. He was playing mind games with the opponents.
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“He knew Anthony Joshua was watching that, and he was thinking to himself, ‘If I show all my toolbox in this first heavyweight fight, I’m going to scare him off.’
"So I think he never got out of second gear with Chisora. I'm not taking anything away from Chisora.
"Chisora will go in there with anyone, he's lost more than he's won at world title level but he gives them a hard fight and he certainly gave Usyk a hard night.
"But I think Usyk took his time, just used his jab, moved around, didn't really get out of second gear, certainly didn’t get anything past third gear and got the comfortable win on points.
"And I think AJ would’ve looked at that and thought, ‘I can beat this guy; he’s struggling up at heavyweight.'
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"Obviously, he took the fight AJ did and Usyk outclassed him and became unified champion."
Joshua, 34, returns to action on Friday against UFC icon Francis Ngannou, 37.
And Usyk, 37, is in talks to unify the heavyweight belts against Tyson Fury, 35.
