Anthony Joshua reveals inspiration for emotional comeback fight after breaking down in tears after losing Usik

Anthony Joshua couldn’t hide the pain of his devastating world title fight loss to his 7-year-old son, and he credits him with helping him make an emotional comeback on Saturday.

Little JJ would have been laid to bed last August when Oleksandr Usyk cheated on his father for the second time in 11 months.

Five

Five

The first opportunity saw the Ukrainian prodigy win AJ’s WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight crowns in London last September.

After a second defeat, the Watford hero had a tantrum his schoolboy son would have been proud of as Joshua failed to regain the title in Saudi Arabia.

But at the post-fight press conference, he wept under the utterly false impression that he had let Britain down after a glorious decade of winning the 2012 London Olympics and becoming a two-time world heavyweight champion. , sobbed.

Knowing how much Joshua, 33, has contributed to British sport, it’s hard to see and when Joshua came home he had a beaten, bruised but never broken son (and It was impossible to hide from a potential successor to boxing.

When asked if his son could feel his pain, AJ replied, “Oh, yes.”

“He’s seven and he’s turning eight this year. He’s aware, but I don’t think he cares. He knows it’s boxing, and he and his cousin are boxing sometimes. I’m sure he’s aware.

“He’s like when I lose and he’s like when he loses. We’re bad losers.”

“Honestly, he throws big tantrums, but I like seeing that side of him. It shows he cares.”

Joshua will have a rematch with American Jermaine Franklin at the O2 in London. Usik and his WBC champion Tyson are battles that must be won if he wants to dance with Fury.

Little JJ returned to the bearpit and was asked if having so much credit and money in the bank was part of his motives for ridicule and taking risks.

“In the beginning it was just for me. Now it’s me, my family and my community.

“There’s an element of that family, but it’s not just him, it’s the whole family.”

Betting Specials – Joshua vs Franklin odds and offers

Five

Joshua loves the competitive spirit that runs through his bloodline, but he knows how dark and dirty the bleeding business can be.

So he agonizes over whether his pride and joy can fight for money thanks to his father’s hard graft.

And the thought of a harsh boxing critic comparing the dynasties of fathers and sons is already undermining his paternal instincts.

Joshua explains: I can guide him, so he can get a head start.

“If he does, I will tell him – because it is his decision and I am not going to force it on him – don’t compete with me, be your own individual.” please.

“I told him, ‘What I’ve achieved in boxing is not for you to try and use it for your own reasons.

Five

“I don’t want him to start boxing. Everyone is asking about his dad, ‘Will you be like him?’ Too much pressure.”

“If he does, that’s the advice I would give him, but I wouldn’t advise him.”

New American trainer Derrick James convinced AJ to move to a gym in Dallas for this camp, separating him from his close-knit family for about three months.

Joshua returned to England last week to re-acclimate, but was trapped in a secret base at Wimbledon and refused to defocus his laser for emotional distraction.

When asked if it’s hard for him to be 5,000 miles or 15 miles away from his loved ones, he promptly replied:

“We are so connected right now that it is hard to disconnect. increase.

Five

“When you get away from the distractions, the hustle and bustle and the little distractions, it’s better to be far away and harder to stay at home.

“When you travel from one country to another, you want to keep the same rhythm.

“No matter how much I train, I think it’s possible that I’ll slip and catch up with my opponent in the last week or so.

“I have always been disciplined and will continue to do so until game night.”

When 18-year-old bricklayer and party boy Joshua decided to turn his back on a life of petty crime to focus on boxing, he accepted that the next 20 years would be something like a prison sentence. rice field.

There was loneliness, pain, stress, punishment, rejection, failure, and sacrifice, and many sacrifices.

🥊 Anthony Joshua vs Jermaine Franklin – Dates, Live Streams, TV Channels & More To Know About the heavyweight bout

Closer to freedom but fed up with repeated retirement questions, one of the hardest sacrifices he made was to move from Reading Prison’s remand ward as a ripped-up teenager to the 2020 Commonwealth Celebrations. I think it’s time to address the Queen with the world watching.

A very private Joshua said:

“I had to put myself in a position that I had never been raised in. For example, I was standing in front of the Queen, reading a speech at Westminster Abbey, and I was never really prepared. I have never been able to.

“I never came from that walk of life and the sacrifice is to get up there and present myself to the public.

“After that gig, I moved back to the estate with my mates, so it’s a sacrifice.

“I wanted to do better, but I’m not from there, I have higher expectations. But I’m just a normal guy.”

Yes, of course you are the champ.