I forgot all about boxing after drug incident, says AJ
ANTHONY JOSHUA has revealed how his boxing career almost went up in smoke following a drugs conviction in 2011, and how a subsequent painful loss rekindled his passion for the sport.
The former world heavyweight champion looks to reclaim the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO belts from Andy Ruiz (pictured) this Saturday.
But he spoke last night about the challenges he faced early in his career as an amateur, including being kicked off the Great Britain squad – run by his trainer Rob McCracken – after admitting to possession of cannabis.
He then suffered a stoppage defeat to Romanian Mihai Nistor at the European Championships within weeks of being invited back.
Joshua said: ‘After I got kicked off the GB squad I went back to Watford and started smoking again and tried to forget all about boxing. I thought – and I could use different language – “this is nonsense”.
‘Then two weeks before the Europeans they called me up and said, “we want you to compete”. I got to the quarter-finals and got stopped, but I knew if I’d been fit I would have beaten the guy.’ Four months later Joshua lost to Azeri Magomedrasul Medzhidov, who is also set to box in Riyadh, at the world championships. And then came his final amateur defeat to Dillian Whyte.
Whyte, who the 30-year-old beat as a pro, will also be on the card in Saudi Arabia and Joshua says those defeats taught him a lot about how to hold himself as a boxer.
‘I had won my first two fights as an amateur by knockout, so for my third one I told all my boys to come and I got knocked down, so I thought, “f*** that, I’m going to keep it lowkey”,’ he revealed.
‘There is nothing wrong with taking losses on – it is just an experience and you learn from those situations.
‘If you correct your wrongs and don’t shy away from them, you can always bounce back.’