Anthony Joshua admits he has been getting some crucial tips by Oleksandr Usyk ahead of next month's all-British showdown with Tyson Fury

Anthony Joshua has been urged by Oleksandr Usyk to 'keep a cool head' in his fight with Tyson Fury.

Joshua and Fury will finally go head-to-head on December 11 at Cardiff's Principality Stadium. 'AJ' comes into the December dust-up off the back of a second round KO victory over Kristian Prenga, while Fury forced Polish boxing veteran Mariusz Wach to quit on his stool.

For Joshua's knockout win over Prenga - as well as his victory over Jake Paul - the British brawler had been trained by Usyk's team. 'AJ' and the two-time undisputed heavyweight champion are now good friends - just years after their two epic encounters in the ring.

And ahead of next month's all-British showcase between Joshua and Fury, Usyk - who has beaten the 'Gypsy King' twice - has passed on some crucial advice to his close companion. "Usyk will tell me: 'keep a cool head, don't lose yourself in the back and forth,' and that's fair enough," said Joshua on the Mr. Verzace Podcast.

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"But ultimately, as I go back to saying, a lot of people are going to tell me what they think is best, but only I can follow myself. If I want to talk, I want to talk, and that's just how I feel. And in terms of tactics, yeah, there's certain things that he can express, but when I was watching the boxing today I was like, it's all about who you truly are. It doesn't matter what people tell you. I can watch a film and see a thing that I can exploit a million times, but when you're in the heat of battle, it's truly what's in there—it's what's deep inside you.

"And I really want to win, so I don't care if it's a left, a right, if I got to go southpaw, I just got to do what I got to do to get the victory, and that's really where I'm coming from. So everyone's going to express to me ways that they believe I can win, but the only true player that can get the job done is like what's in here, and I've got to trust myself.

"So we can express, we can talk, we can observe his tendencies and his pros and his cons, but I just think in the battle, all of that will go out the window and it's just about what's truly in here, because I believe it's going to be one of those kind of fights."

Joshua has reunited with Ben Davison for his meeting with Fury. Initially, Usyk had predicted his friend to score a brutal stoppage, but recently performed a drastic U-turn when asked for his prediction. “It is a good fight, it is a 50/50," said Usyk.

"A lot of fans have waited for the fight for 10 years because it is two big stars in the UK and a lot of fans around the world want this fight, me [I] too want this fight! I want to watch this fight because it’s like a choice of who is the only king of the UK.”