ALERT AS JACK FELLED BY TUMMY BUG
ANTHONY JOSHUA hasn’t missed a thing about being the world champion — thanks to his mindset.
The 30-year-old Brit will challenge Andy Ruiz Jnr in the Saudi Arabian city of Diriyah on Saturday in a bid to win back the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO titles that the Mexican American took off him in June.
He lost the belts on his US debut in Madison Square Garden but, even so, he insists he hasn’t felt any different in the six months since he had to hand them over.
“No, there’s nothing I’ve missed,” said Joshua. “I’ve always said the belt should never define the man.
“You have to walk as a champion before, anyway, and I walked as a champion before I even had a belt.
“You see certain fighters come along, they get to championship level and you see their whole demeanour change.
“You see the cars, the chains…
“But I was this guy way before I had a belt round my waist.
“So when you ask me this question, ‘Is there anything I miss?’ The answer is, ‘No’, because I’m the same person, through and through.
“With or without the belts it’s a championship mindset and a championship spirit.
“I only used to look at the belts when I had to take them to commercial shoots.
“I’m not really someone who has the big trophy cabinet or something like that.
“This is hustle, this is grind, this ain’t about patting myself on the back. This is strictly
ENGLAND medics are on alert following Jack Leach’s admission to hospital and concerns over a delayed concussion for Dom Sibley.
Leach was struck by gastroenteritis on day two of the second Test in New Zealand and remained in hospital overnight in Hamilton. He had started to hustle. All we do is look forward, I don’t really care about what happened in the past.”
The 2012 Olympic super heavyweight gold medallist was crowned world champion in 2016 in his 16th fight as a professional.
He beat Charles Martin to win the IBF title and then made six defences of the belt, while adding the others to it courtesy of his victory over Wladimir Klitschko in 2017, before succumbing to Ruiz (above).
Asked last week whether the defeat had prompted a change in mentality, Joshua hit back by declaring, ‘I haven’t become a p**** overnight’.
And, expanding on that, he added: “What do people think this is? This is fighting. One loss feel unwell after the morning session and could not keep any fluids down.
The 28-year-old spinner, who is not playing in this Test, also suffers from Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel condition that he has been living with since it was diagnosed in childhood.
Sibley was struck flush on doesn’t take the spots off a cheetah.
“I came into boxing to fight, I didn’t come to be a journeyman.
“I’ve been champion, I’ve been Olympic champion, I’ve been world silver medallist.
“You can’t ask me about how I feel after a loss, you have to hold some regard to what we’re doing in this boxing industry, that’s probably where I’m coming from.
“And that’s where I listen now to what people say and it’s like, ‘Put some respect by our name’.
Despite his desire to prove his doubters wrong and his wish for more respect, ultimately there is only one person Joshua feels he needs to impress.
■■British heavyweight Hughie Fury pulled out of last night’s fight with the Czech Republic’s Pavel Sour due to a virus - just hours before their bout in Monte Carlo. the front of the helmet during his innings of four by Tim Southee, then underwent a concussion test on the ground but was deemed able to continue.
Over in Australia, David Warner put his horror Ashes series behind him with a maiden triple century in Adelaide against Pakistan, beating Sir Donald
Bradman’s high of 299 on the ground.
Warner managed just 95 runs in the entire Ashes series as Stuart Broad dismissed him seven times, but others are now paying for it back on his home turf.
Broad said: “He’s gone back to Australian conditions he’s very comfortable in and he’s playing out of his skin.”