JOSHUA IS VERY FRANK
I’m focusing on the boxing . . . my team will drive me back to the top
ANTHONY JOSHUA will let promoter Eddie Hearn and trainer Derrick James dictate his pathway back to the top – even if that means him taking the long route round.
Joshua confirmed last week that he will meet American Jermaine Franklin at London’s O2 Arena on April 1, as he looks to rebuild his career following back-toback defeats at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk.
And the expectation now is that, if he comes through the Franklin fight with a win, he will face old foe Dillian Whyte in a summer rematch, nearly eight years on from their only previous meeting as professionals.
Many fans will question why Joshua, the two-time heavyweight world champion, needs two such fights at all – and why he would not automatically be knocking at the door for a clash with whoever comes out on top in the upcoming Usyk and Tyson Fury fight.
That is assuming, of course, that Usyk and Fury are able to get their undisputed bout – negotiations for which are ongoing for an April 29 showdown – signed and sealed.
But AJ, who has always taken a hands-on approach to his career, will now defer to whatever Hearn (left) and new cornerman James (right) decide as he and the team around him put back the building blocks that
Ukrainian tough man Usyk knocked down, most recently in August last year.
Joshua said: “Do you know what, in terms of whether I want to go straight back to a world-title shot or have a couple of more fights, I am stepping away from that aspect now.
“I’ll let my gaffers (Hearn and James) speak on it. But we are certainly not running away from it, me personally, I am not running away from it.
“Who’ll win out of Usyk and Fury? It does matter to me because it is my division but I am not going to say.”
Joshua has taken himself off to James’ gym in Texas to prepare for the Franklin fight and that, of course, comes at the cost of taking him away from spending time with his son, JJ. Joshua said: “It’s tough but it is what it is.
“It’s my decision.
“But I do find it interesting thinking about how he will reflect on it in his later life.
“He might say, ‘Dad, you weren’t there for me’.”
Joshua added, with a raucous laugh: “But I’ll say, ‘Shut up, man, look at that Ferrari’.
“No, I’m joking. I’ll be tough on him but that’s my culture, I’m from a Nigerian household, where discipline is a big deal.
“A lot of Nigerian children are well-raised and disciplined and well-mannered.
“People might think it’s fake or whatever, but because I’m from a Nigerian household I treat all you guys with respect, I shake everyone’s hand, I stand up when someone walks into a room because that is the culture I was brought up in. “It was when I would leave my house, and not be around my family, that I would get in a lot of trouble.
“So JJ is being raised in that culture and that environment of having a lot of respect for his elders.
“People may not have understood how I could be one way inside the ring and a very different way outside of the ring.
“But it’s just the way I was raised – and JJ was raised in that same environment as well.”
I’ll let my gaffers speak on it... but I’m not running from a title shot