Anthony Joshua launched an astonishing attack on the heavyweight titles he’s aiming to claim for the third time on Saturday night.
The British Olympic gold medalist participated in online interviews and question sessions for his upcoming battle with Oleksandr Usyk this week.
Away from the media glare of the worldwide press, Joshua went through alternative media to answer a Q and A.
Anthony Joshua on heavyweight titles
Joshua let out several swear words during the Zoom taping. He appeared more relaxed and spoke more openly.
One question brought about a shocking reaction from a UK headliner. That’s considering he has proudly displayed his championships for all to see and has a campaign with sponsors called ‘The Road to Undisputed” running.
“Not much,” said AJ when asked what the Ring Magazine title being on the line for the Usyk fight means. “It doesn’t mean s***.
“None of them [the world heavyweight titles] do. It is what it is. They just f****** take my sanction fee [off my purse]. Then I can just go to show the kids, ‘look at my belts'” – he added sarcastically.
He continued, “All that stuff to me is here today and gone tomorrow. I just never felt like these belts made me.”
The clip on social media skipped forward as Joshua realized what he’d said on the eve of potentially becoming a three-time heavyweight champion.
Damage control
Promoter Eddie Hearn was waiting in the wings. Joshua revealed he told him, “he’s just got to go speak to the sanctioning bodies now,” in reference to potential damage control.
Laughing between themselves, Joshua concluded by joking he better go, “smooth some things over.”
At the same time, when discussing holding the belts he took from Joshua last year, Usyk is a proud titleholder.
Born to compete for belts
“We were born to compete for life, belts, and everything. The one who does not compete does not win,” said Usyk.
“All our lives are competitions for something or somebody. That’s why we are competing. We’ve had enough time to study each other. This Saturday will be a great, great fight.”
Usyk concluded: “We learned from each other in the first fight. But this is a continuation.
“The first round on Saturday will be round number thirteen. We had enough time to study each other.”
No doubting if Joshua can pull off a huge shock this weekend in Jeddah, the first thing he’ll do is proudly display his belts.
The views expressed in this article are the opinions of Phil Jay.
WBN Editor Phil has over ten years of boxing news experience. Follow WBN on Facebook @officialworldboxingnews and Twitter @worldboxingnews.
