Joshua has been a man of few words leading up to fight night (Picture: Getty)
Anthony Joshua has been in no mood for games this week.
The two-time heavyweight champion arrived on the red carpet in Jeddah ahead of ‘Day of Reckoning’ on Saturday where Otto Wallin awaits on one of the biggest boxing nights of all-time.
‘I’m not sure’, ‘you tell me’ and ‘correct’ were among the blunt responses he gave in a tight-lipped media interview in front of the cameras. While the other fighters on the bill excitedly talked up their arrival in Saudi Arabia and what lies in store this weekend, Joshua stayed frosty, very much embracing fight mode.
When the star-studded card was announced in London last month, it was a similar story, if a little more fired up.
Wallin was on the receiving end of some harsh words during an icy stare-down on stage. Jarrell Miller, the man Joshua was scheduled to fight in 2019 before his string of failed drug tests, was given an understandably hostile reception – a trend that has continued this week. Queensberry Promotions’ Dev Sahni, hosting proceedings that evening, also took some shots, with Joshua insisting his promoter Eddie Hearn be the one to ask him questions.
Joshua’s demeanour was a no-nonsense one then and has continued that way as we count down to fight night. In his media appearances this week, he has been accused of being cagey, moody, even disrespectful.
But for over a decade, he has been under the spotlight, very much the poster boy of British boxing and one of the most popular sportsmen in the country. Like so many other stars of British sport however, perceptions and attitudes towards him have changed during the difficult moments.
Joshua takes on Otto Wallin this weekend (Picture: Getty)
Joshua’s back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk took their toll on the Olympian, evident in what unfolded after his rematch loss to the undefeated Ukrainian in 2022. In the immediate aftermath, Joshua clashed with members of Usyk’s team, took the microphone to deliver a wild, sometimes incoherent speech and unceremoniously dumped two of the champion’s title belts out of the ring. In a post-fight press conference, he broke down in tears.
The criticism was loud. Joshua has lost his edge. The killer instinct has gone. Having blasted through his first 20 opponents, the former knockout artist has gone gun-shy on the biggest stage.
Amid all that noise, becoming a three-time world champion has become an obsession for Joshua. Ahead of his fight against Jermaine Franklin in April, he made efforts to limit commercial and media obligations to ‘put his heart into boxing and nothing else’.
Joshua, unintentionally perhaps, became the king of promotion during his rise with his new outlook somewhat illustrated by his decision to take his fight camps earlier this year out to the US with trainer Derrick James, locked away in his Texas gym.
Joshua broke down in tears after his rematch defeat to Usyk (Picture: Getty)
Joshua has been expected to rebuild and reboot from career-changing defeats while still retaining some of the explosive traits that helped him reach the summit the first time around, all the while remaining the smiling media presence he became after his success at London 2012 as a 22-year-old.
Last month, he offered a telling insight into the pressure he is under. ‘From where I began to going on to achieving, it’s never enough. Will he ever be three-time champion of the world?’ It’s just too much. Maybe I should stop if I can’t deal with it.’
The spotlight and the scrutiny comes with the territory. But the treatment hasn’t always been fair.
‘As much media as you do, people judge him on his performance and to get that level of performance he needs to put everything into his training,’ Matchroom CEO Frank Smith told Metro.co.uk. ‘People can judge the way he answers a question, but essentially it comes down to how he performs in the ring.
‘He is laser focused on improving as an athlete and as a fighter and he feels the best way to do that is training. He has done the media stuff for 10 years and he’s been very good at it. That has helped him get where he is. He also gets judged a lot more than other fighters.
‘Everything he does, there are so many questions around it. He is under such spotlight. Other fighters don’t really get that. Because of his position, he gets more of it. He has gotten used to it but that doesn’t make it fair. Everyone should be held to the same account.
Joshua headlines Saturday’s show in Saudi (Picture: Getty)
‘He is very focused on training and he doesn’t like the other stuff, as is the case with most fighters, they just want to focus on training at that point and don’t really want to be doing a load of media stuff. They want to be using every day, every hour they have from a training perspective. But I don’t think he has changed in that respect.’
Those sentiments are echoed by Joshua’s former training partner Frazer Clarke, who believes the 34-year-old is constantly held to a different standard in the way he fights and the way he talks compared to his domestic rivals like Tyson Fury.
‘He always gets the harsher criticism,’ Clarke said. ‘Throughout his career he has fought the best fighters around and when he has suffered setbacks, it’s been unforgiving. There is always talk about the ‘old AJ’ the ‘new AJ’, all that matters is the version right now. Things before and after are irrelevant.
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‘It is what he does when he gets in the ring on the night. Being the public figure he is, it is a lightning rod sometimes. Every fighter gets criticism but there is that much attention on AJ, it increases tenfold. Anytime he says something against the grain, he’s wrong, he’s weak minded. But the reality is he is just a dedicated fighter putting everything into his craft and chasing his titles back.’
After wins over Franklin and Robert Helenius this year, the stakes are enormous once again. Joshua must first overcome Swedish southpaw Wallin on Saturday but Deontay Wilder awaits if he comes through that test with a deal reportedly in place for the two to collide on 9 March. It’s a swift turnaround and there won’t be any time out of the spotlight between those two dates.
Whether he likes it or not, however, it is where he has to be.
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Joshua been in fight mode all week, it is time to stop holding him to a different standard.