Anthony Joshua sounded like a person with a chip on his shoulder, complaining that the British public underestimate him and that he’s driven by that going into his title match against IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois on Saturday night.
It bothers Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) that he’s not adored by the whole of the UK instead of what he feels is a “minority” of the public. He thinks the 96,000 fans who show up this Saturday to watch him challenge Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs) are the minority, whereas the others “underestimate” him.
If AJ is right about most of the United Kingdom not being supporters, they have a good reason. He let them down several times during his 11-year career, and he’s not fought anyone cutting edge in his last four fights since losing to Oleksandr Usyk for the second time in 2022.
Joshua’s crude rant and Usyk’s belts being rudely tossed out of the ring weren’t the proper behavior the more cultured UK fans would have liked to have seen from a sports hero.
There’s the episode involving how Joshua won his gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics with his opponent, Italy’s Roberto Cammarelle, who was arguably robbed on foreign soil in England.
Those things are just the tip of the iceberg of why the majority of the UK dislikes Joshua. There’s a whole bunch more about his career, and the way his promoter has guided it is disturbing. The UK masses have reasons to loathe Joshua, and he will have to live with it.
“People underestimate me. People will continue to underestimate me,” said Anthony Joshua to the Matchroom Boxing channel. “It’s part of the British public underestimating me, but that’s fine. That’s always going to be part of the game, and that drives me a lot.”
If the vast majority of UK fans dislike Joshua, it’s too late for him to change their viewpoints because they’ve watched him for 11 years and taken note of all the wrongs. AJ will just have to accept that he’s not the cup of tea for the UK fans. If Joshua loses on Saturday to Dubois, it would strengthen the fans’ hardened dislike for him. A robbery for Dubois would also have the Joshua haters standing up and saying,’I told you so. The man is pure poison.’
“Yeah, he’s done it loads of times before,” said Joshua when asked if Dubois was ready for this big stage on Saturday. “Whether it’s being at Wembley, Poland, Tottenham, York Hall, or wherever he’s boxed before. He’s done it loads of times, and he’ll be fine. He’ll come to throw punches.
“I’m not expecting someone that’s just going to crumble under pressure. I’m expecting someone who’s going to try and test my manhood, and I’m going to be there ready.
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