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Anthony Joshua exclusive: The physical work is done... now I just need to rest and get my mind in good shape

Thursday, for the first time this week, I was due to go face to face and eye to eye with Wladimir Klitschko at the press conference. The fight may be a mere two days away but those final days before stepping into the ring are absolutely crucial.

Sure, all the work in the gym is done — in fact, my last proper training session was Monday and yesterday we just did an open session at Wembley — so, physically, we are there. Now it’s about staying focused and relaxed.

That’s easier than it sounds, simply because my body and mind have just become so routinely regimented for weeks now on training, eating and sleeping.

Now I’ve got to fill those empty hours with something else — and that’s a lot of time when you look at what I do on a day-to-day basis at a training camp.

The first session is usually down at the track at 7.30am, developing my energy systems with sprints, on a bike or running a longer distance at a more moderate pace.

Then I go back to bed, have breakfast and then we’re in the gym for 11.30am for strength and conditioning, working on getting as strong, fast and powerful as I can be and helping on foot speed and rotational power, too. Then it’s back to bed again, followed by a lot more food and hydration, then boxing training at 5.30pm — the most important session of any day — where we work on technique, timing and movement.

So, when you are living that life over months in camp and then just before the fight, when you take away the training element, there’s some empty hours.

As boring as it sounds, I fill them mainly by sleeping — and the moments when I am awake and not doing pre-fight stuff, like the workout and media things, I just chill with the boys to take my mind off things. We’ll watch some films, do a bit of gaming — anything I can do to take my mind off things.

As hard as it might be to believe, I’m not really that aware of the huge interest in the fight because I’m locked away and I keep the team around me tight. But people are telling me it’s huge. I think I’d get mobbed now if I walked out of where I am staying, so I’ll be keeping a very low profile in these final 48 or so hours.

If you just live a regimented lifestyle, you can end up being a lonely man and go crazy but I am very focused and driven. I don’t drink, smoke or stay up late. I don’t think other people are on it like me. Sure, they talk a good game but they don’t do it like I do. Put a camera on us for 24 hours and you’d see who the real man is.

I am only a product of what I am physically and mentally because of those camps and my coach (Rob McCracken). He has taught me how to box and that’s day by day, and round by round in the gym, to study my opponents, to throw the right shots at the right time.

It’s an old school way of training and it’s looking at fine tuning and perfecting things to the smallest detail, so it’s mentally draining, as well as physically.

People say that this is my fight if it goes early, but Wladimir’s if it goes late.

Maybe that’s right, we’ll see on the night, but I know that we’ve put the work in at the gym and on the road to go the distance if we need to.

I have done 12 rounds in the gym and in my head and I can do 12 rounds at Wembley Stadium.

I am tired now but that’s not a bad thing. This has been a long camp, the fire is being cranked up inside me, but there’s time to rest.

You push yourself to the limit in camp and then spend the last few days recharging the batteries — and that’s when the atmosphere can really take you to another level.

Joshua vs Klitschko is exclusively live this Saturday on Sky Sports Box Office. To book visit skysports.com/joshua