By: Sean Cross
“It will happen,” former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua said recently. DAZN A fight between himself and WBC and lineal heavyweight titleholder Tyson Fury. “Come now. The same generation. Speaking to Ade Oladipo, the savvy Englishman was candid in his self-awareness. The interview revealed that while Joshua’s team was reluctant to sign a highly-anticipated fight with British Fury, Joshua didn’t have much bad to say about the Gypsy King. “He’s a fighter and he wants to fight,” Joshua said. “No matter who’s watching, he just wants to fight and so do I.”
Joshua’s last outing didn’t go well for him, losing in a high-profile rematch with Oleksandr Usyk, who lifted the belt nearly a year ago. Joshua acted strangely immediately after the August rematch loss, evident in his lengthy in-ring statement after the judges ruled in Usyk’s favor. To his credit, Joshua made it clear to Oladipo that he wasn’t in a good place at the time. “You saw it after the last battle,” he said. “I swear to you, it tore me apart.
Certainly, Joshua is determined to make himself a better man in his rematch with Usyk, just as he was when he faced Andy Ruiz for the second time all those years ago. Joshua defeated Ruiz for the second time, avenging his previous finals loss to the Mexican-American. But history doesn’t repeat itself when it comes to Usyk’s rematch. “I had a lot riding on that, for me, the British fans, the uncontested fight, it really tore me apart,” he said of his second fight with Usyk.
Although Joshua, as a fighter, felt that his body would return to the ring soon after his loss last summer, those close to him felt differently. “People close to me are telling me, ‘You need to rest your mind,'” Joshua said. “Physically, I’m going to struggle. I am a fighter. I love this game. I like to compete.” Joshua made it clear that the fight game really takes its toll. “It’s hard,” he said. “It’s not easy to try to do this thing and do it right, as we’ve seen in recent weeks.”
Joshua doesn’t feel like he’s done. “I still have goals and objectives to achieve and achieve,” he said. I like to fight good opponents…I always felt it was important for me to fight the best of my time. Very low key than Fury, Joshua feels that a fighter doesn’t have to be a showman to be successful. “It’s not how popular you are that makes you a good fighter, it’s how good a fighter you are,” he said.
“I like to take risks,” he says.
