Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua’s first press conference is expected to go ahead in London on Wednesday ahead of their blockbuster heavyweight fight on December 11, and Sky Sports‘ Matthew Macklin has spoken of what he expects when the two British rivals face off….

I think the press conference will be important.

The psychological, mental aspect of boxing is huge. It’s an individual sport – one on one – so if you can get into the other guy’s head and help put him in a negative headspace, you’re halfway there.

Confidence is key. And if someone’s struggling with confidence, if you can put some seeds of doubt in their mind, that’s a real benefit to you.

There’s a lot on the line. A lot of people involved, a lot of money, a lot of pride, a lot of ego, so there’s already cracks appearing left, right and centre.

Fury will certainly be trying every trick in the book.

There will be people there who will try and control things as best they can, trying to make sure that nothing physical happens. But I’d expect Fury to be animated.

Joshua less so. I wouldn’t have said that the psychological warfare was as big a part of AJ’s game as it is Fury’s. I don’t think he’s as well versed in it.

But sometimes not engaging can be good, it can sort of give you the edge – like Carl Froch the second time round with George Groves.

I think he realised that for the first fight he wasted so much energy on things and fell into the traps that George was setting.

I think was it Michael Corleone [in The Godfather III] who said, “Never hate your enemies, it affects your judgment”. And I think, certainly with Froch the first time round, that was a factor.

Ahead of the second fight, he just chose to disengage. So maybe AJ will do similar and choose to not get involved?

I think we’ll get there. I think the fight will go ahead, but I do think there’ll be some twists and turns and bumps in the road on the way.

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