Moody Anthony Joshua? Chasing world titles is a tireless task, but the British boxer has nothing else to worry about

Anthony Joshua was in no mood to compete this week.

The two-time heavyweight champion arrived on the red carpet in Jeddah on Saturday ahead of Judgment Day, where Otto Wallin was waiting for him in one of the biggest nights of boxing of all time.

“I’m not sure,” “I’m just saying” and “fine” were among the blunt answers he gave on camera in a tight-lipped media interview. While the other fighters on the program spoke enthusiastically about their arrival in Saudi Arabia and what awaits them this weekend, Joshua remained chill and was very pleased with the fight mode.

When the star-studded card was announced in London last month, it was a similar story, albeit a little more exciting.

Wallin heard some harsh words during his icy stare at the podium. Jarrell Miller, the man Joshua was supposed to fight in 2019 before his series of failed drug tests, was understandably met with hostility – a trend that continued this week. Dev Sahni from Queensberry Promotions, who hosted the event that evening, also took some photos, with Joshua insisting that his promoter Eddie Hearn should be the one to ask him questions.

Joshua’s behavior was businesslike then and remains so as we count down to the night of the battle. In his media appearances this week, he was accused of being reserved, moody and even disrespectful.

But he has been in the spotlight for more than a decade, a true figurehead of British boxing and one of the country’s most popular athletes. But like so many other stars of British sport, perceptions and attitudes towards him have changed at difficult times.

Joshua’s back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk took their toll on the Olympian, as evidenced by what happened after his rematch loss to the undefeated Ukrainian in 2022. Immediately afterwards, Joshua clashed with members of Usyk’s team, grabbing the microphone took to giving wild, sometimes incoherent speeches and unceremoniously throwing two of the champion’s title belts out of the ring. He broke down in tears during a post-fight press conference.

The criticism was loud. Joshua has lost his lead. The killer instinct is gone. After defeating his first 20 opponents, the former knockout artist has become timid on the biggest stage.

Amid all the noise, becoming a three-time world champion has become an obsession for Joshua. Before his fight against Jermaine Franklin in April, he tried to limit commercial and media commitments by “devoting his heart to boxing and nothing else.”

Joshua, perhaps unintentionally, became the king of the promotion during his rise, with his new attitude somewhat illustrated by his decision to move his fight camps to the US earlier this year while trainer Derrick James was cooped up in his Texas gym.

Joshua is expected to rebuild and restart after career-altering defeats, while still retaining some of the explosive qualities that helped him to the top the first time, while maintaining the smiling media presence that he reached 22 after his success in London 2012 as a coach. years old.

Last month he gave a powerful insight into the pressure he is under. “From the point I’ve reached, it’s never enough. Will he ever become a three-time world champion? It’s just too much. Maybe I should quit if I can’t handle this.’

The spotlights and surveillance come with the territory. But the treatment was not always fair.

“As much media as you do, people judge him on his performance and to reach that level of performance he has to put everything into his training,” Matchroom CEO Frank Smith told Metro.co.uk. “People can judge how he answers a question, but essentially it’s about his performance in the ring.”

“He is very focused on improving his performance as an athlete and fighter and believes training is the best way to achieve this.” He has been in the media field for ten years and is very good at it. That helped him get where he is now. He is also rated much more often than other fighters.

“There are so many questions about everything he does. He’s so in the spotlight. Other fighters don’t really understand this. He gets more out of it because of his position. He’s used to it, but that doesn’t make it fair. Everyone should have the same bill.

“He focuses a lot on training and doesn’t like the other things, as is the case with most fighters. They just want to focus on training at the moment and not really do a lot of media stuff. They want to use every day and every hour they have from a training perspective. But I don’t think he’s changed in that way.”

These views are echoed by Joshua’s former training partner Frazer Clarke, who believes the 34-year-old is always held to a different standard in the way he fights and speaks, compared to his domestic rivals such as Tyson Fury.

“He always gets the harsher criticism,” Clarke said. “Throughout his career he has fought the best fighters and when he got setbacks it was brutal. People always talk about the “old AJ”, the “new AJ”, only the current version is important. Things before and after are irrelevant.

“That’s what he does when he steps into the ring at night.” Because he is a public figure, he can be a lightning rod at times. Every fighter gets criticized, but AJ gets so much attention that it increases tenfold. Every time he says something against the grain, he is wrong, he is mentally weak. But the reality is that he is just a dedicated fighter who puts everything into his craft and chases his titles back.”

After victories over Franklin and Robert Helenius this year, a huge amount of money is once again at stake. Joshua must first beat Swedish southpaw Wallin on Saturday, but Deontay Wilder will wait to see if he passes that test as the pair are rumored to meet on March 9. Things are moving fast and there won’t be time to get out of the spotlight between these two dates.

But whether he likes it or not, it depends on where he needs to be.