Anthony Joshua has a goal – to become a three-time heavyweight champion of the world; “It’s everything,” Joshua says but to achieve he is trying to change himself along the way; chasing that dream might still lead him to Deontay Wilder or even, eventually, the fight with Tyson Fury
The dream is always there. Anthony Joshua was once a champion. He longs to be one again.
A London 2012 Olympic gold medallist, Joshua has been a heavyweight world champion twice over, and earned a staggering fortune in the process.
Yet still he’s looking for something.
In 2023 he’s had to adjust. This April for the first time in six years he boxed without a world title on the line. Now he will do that for a third consecutive time when he fights Otto Wallin. That’s not where he wants to be. He wants to be back at the top.
A three-time world heavyweight champion. That is his ultimate goal.
“It’s everything,” he told Sky Sports. “It is to become a three-time heavyweight champion. But it’s also to become a dominant fighter, a better fighter. What that means is the championship will follow that.”
To realise the dream he needs to change himself in the process. “I want to just become a more dominant and better fighter,” he said.
“If I go in the ring and I dominate and I’m better than my opponent, naturally the championship will be around my waist. Because I’m just better. I’m destined for that.”
Ten years a pro, 14 years in the sport and the search continues.
News trainers have come in. He switched from Robert McCracken to Robert Garcia for his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk last year. Joshua travelled to America to go into camp with Derrick James for his first two fights of 2023. Now against Wallin for the first time Ben Davison will be instructing him from the corner.
The reinvention he believes will continue. “A coach is like a satnav, they’re going to guide you to the destination. A good coach will guide you to that same destination a lot quicker. I think it’s really I’m in a gym with passion and motivation to get up and get in the car and get on my journey but I’ve also got a good team that are helping me navigate my way to get there,” he insisted.
“It’s been great, honestly. It’s been really good to be back home as well during this period. I’ve spent a long time, some people might say it’s not that long but I feel it was a long, good time in America.
“The [Wallin] fight presented itself at a perfect time while I was developing in the UK. So I decided to stay put and it was a really good decision. I’ve learned a lot and I’m quite happy.”
Being happy is not a state that would necessarily be associated Joshua’s recent in-ring appearances.
He made a spectacular entrance to his first fight with Oleksandr Usyk at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in 2021. But looked increasingly lost as the artful southpaw let shots slice through his defences, taking away rounds and ultimately AJ’s three world title belts.
He would never get them back.
With cold fury, Joshua kept Usyk under sustained pressure in their rematch last year, only for the Ukrainian to pull away once more in the closing stages of the fight and retain the unified heavyweight championship in impressive style.
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