Joshua fired up by Ferdinand’s mindset

ANTHONY JOSHUA feels he was born a winner but now has an everlasting craving for more glory.

It is thanks to an inspirational chat with Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand, who passed on Sir Alex Ferguson’s drive for more success even when the peak has been reached.

It will certainly be needed tonight.

Joshua, 28, defends his WBA and IBF heavyweight titles against Carlos Takam, 36, in front of 78,000 fans at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. But after his triumph in the seismic Wembley showdown with Wladimir Klitschko in April, the event understandably feels a bit flat as he faces a late replacement, who most people in Britain will never have heard of, never mind watched.

Yet it is an important step for the heavyweight star with bigger and better fights on the horizon in 2018. Defeat would not only be embarrassing for Joshua, but also disastrous for his career.

He knows he cannot dwell on the remarkable 11th-round stoppage of ring great Klitschko and his conversation with Ferdinand recently, when the pair shared a private jet, will help ensure he does not.

Ferdinand was part of Ferguson’s United side in the Noughties and won six Premier League titles, two League Cups and the Champions League while the former Old Trafford manager won 49 trophies in his career. “I was speaking to Rio Ferdinand and that’s what he was saying, the mindset years ago at Manchester United was, ‘What’s next?’” said Joshua.

“He said he would win a big game and everyone would be celebrating and he would be speaking to the gaffer and saying, ‘What’s next, who have we got?’ The mindset was to keep pushing on.

“That’s the next game, what’s the next trophy. That’s the winning mindset Sir Alex Ferguson instilled in them. That mindset is not just in boxing, it’s in football, tennis, business.

“It’s just who I am. That winning mentality is just me in life.”

The next trophies in the boxing world for Joshua are the WBC belt and WBO strap currently held by Deontay Wilder and Joseph Parker and the hope is that those fights will come in 2018.

Joshua v Takam is live on Sky Sports Box Office from 6pm.