Anthony Joshua rebounded from two opening-round knockdowns to defeat Kristian Prenga via a second-round stoppage on Saturday.
The British heavyweight boxer returned to the ring after a long hiatus caused by a December car crash in Nigeria that killed two close friends.
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Joshua's victory moves him closer to a contracted bout with Tyson Fury.
Usyk's Influence
Oleksandr Usyk watched the fight from ringside and later entered the ring to congratulate Joshua, praising his resilience and predicting a knockout victory over Fury.
Joshua's training camp focused on boxing-specific conditioning with Usyk's team. "One of my main issues was conditioning.
Their conditioning is supreme," Joshua told talkSPORT.
He noted that training with Usyk's team exposed him to a new development system. "I've still got so much room to improve," he said.
Promoter Barry Hearn expressed amazement at the training methods. "We were always astonished about AJ's level of work in the gym.
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Suddenly, we're super astonished about Usyk's. This is a whole new world," Hearn said.
Usyk brushed aside Joshua's early trouble against Prenga as standard boxing variance. "Anthony Joshua is the next undisputed champion.
The first round? This is boxing.
He took an uppercut — that is a knockdown. AJ got back up and won," Usyk told talkSPORT.
The Ukrainian champion also dismissed potential criticisms from Tyson Fury. "Now he will say, 'Weak chin, blah-blah.'
Get out of here, greedy belly. AJ will win.
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He will knock him out," Usyk said.
