THE MONEY MACHINE
AJ has astutely cashed in on his earning power both in and out of the ring
Now it comes. That rare flashback to gangland days. A startling glimpse into the street fighter before the world champion.
‘If they f*** me, they won’t be waking up next morning.’
Anthony Joshua is talking about those to whom he delegates now the running of his business empire.
‘what I’ve done is put a trusted team around me. So far, so good. They’re still breathing. I’m not going to jail. we’re happy. Everything’s fine.’
There it is. A stark warning to AJ’s associates that if they cook the books, they will be the ones who end up as toast.
A timely reminder to olexsandr Usyk, the former undisputed world cruiserweight champion against whom he defends his titles this Saturday, and Tyson Fury, with whom he hopes to dispute the undisputed world heavyweight championship next spring, of the capacity for explosive violence which lies beneath the engaging smile and the courteous charm.
The gutters of boxing history are littered with the human debris of heroes whose hard earnings, be they great or small, have been plundered or squandered.
Having made it clear beyond all doubt what will happen to anyone who plays fast and loose with his fortune and his future, Joshua throws back his head and laughs.
Do not be deceived that he is joking. There is too much at stake. More than 100 million at the last count. And rising. Fast. More than doubling once Joshua and Fury finally get it on. Twice. Maybe ever upwards toward becoming the first boxing billionaire of his stated ambition.
The glittering football stadia in London — Tottenham Hotspur this weekend, more often wembley — offer richer pickings by far than a little drugs-meddling in watford alleyways.
So do the all the sponsors who have flocked of late to the candle of his fame: Jaguar Land Rover, Under Armour, JD Sports, Beats, Hugo Boss, william Hill, Lucozade, British Airways, Sky, DAZN among them. Then there are his own companies which will continue to engage him in the sport he loves after he hangs up the gloves: AJ Boxing and Commerce, which includes his foray into fighter management, the state of the art BAR Gym, Sparta Promotions, who are beginning to put on fight events. Bringing in between them all £11million a year.
Good for him. Better by light years than ending up destitute like the great, late Joe Frazier in a tumbledown shack by an old railroad track in Philadelphia. wise of him to know his prowess in the ring is the rock without which the entire edifice would crumble.
Having assembled his army of city wise-guys and put that gun to their heads, he says: ‘what I have to do now is focus entirely on my boxing.
‘when I came out of the amateurs as olympic champion, it was a lot easier for me inside the ring than the battle outside the ring.
‘Early on, I spent time reading the business climate. Boxing is an unforgiving world when it comes to making the right decisions. At the start, it was so difficult. But I came to understand the power of the corporate companies, the phenomenal power of big brands and what they can do for boxing.
‘I studied the history. A century ago, there was a world heavyweight champion called (Gentleman) Jim
Corbett who knew the importance of self-promotion. Then came Muhammad Ali, who was The Greatest at self-promotion as well as boxing. Most fighters today know we have to sell ourselves. That the talking is as important as the fighting. That business matters.’
But there is a reason why Joshua has been less visible than usual in the media of late. He explains: ‘For me, the time has come to stand back from all that and focus only on the fighting and the winning. I also know that what matters most of all to the public is to excite. To give them something back for what it costs to come out to watch me. To give crowds like the 60,000 who will be there on Saturday value for their ticket money.
‘That’s why you very rarely see me in a boring fight. But to go on and on doing that as the level of championship fighting keeps rising, I must give total concentration without distraction.’
Joshua regards Usyk as ‘second only to wladimir Klitsckho of my opponents’ and is pleased to meet that challenge. He says: ‘For upand-coming fighters now it’s often more about the talking to build up the money. But back in the day the only way great boxers got the rewards they deserved was by fighting each other. And when I look back, I admire how (Sugar Ray) Leonard, (Marvin) Hagler, (Roberto) Duran and (Tommy) Hearns built the legend of the Fantastic Four by doing just that.
‘I would like to be the same. I want to box more often than two or three times a year, although that’s not been possible during the pandemic. It’s a different era now but I see myself as a throwback fighter. I want to be known as a man who took on all challenges.’
How long will he carry on in pursuit of that legacy? ‘A few years yet,’ he says, ‘now that I can keep my mind only on the boxing. I’m 32 next month, so the question is how long will I go on after 36? Maybe, having taken care of business, the full shoot to 40. However long it takes. Long as I can.
‘Then it will be up to you guys, you sportswriters not me, to decide my place in heavyweight history. whether or not I achieve greatness. I am working as hard as I can for it.’