Anthony Joshua has slammed boxing legends who ‘lost respect’ for him after losing his heavyweight world titles, glamsquad reports
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The Watford-born fighter lost back-to-back fights to Oleksandr Usyk, causing the boxing world to turn against him.
Joshua fights Jermaine Franklin on April 1 for the first time since losing his WBA, WBO, and IBF belts and failing to reclaim them.
The 33-year-old claims he is doing it for himself, not to impress any of his boxing idols, who have turned their backs on him.
In response to his defeats, Joshua told talkSPORT: ‘It was a tough pill to swallow, and now I’m just in a place where it’s like, ‘f*** it,’
*** Everyone, I’m only doing this for myself.
‘I’m not going through that s*** where I’m putting pressure on myself, ‘I’m going to do this, and I’m going to do that.
‘I love this industry, and I have a lot of respect for boxing because I do it and know what it takes.
‘And it’s crazy to think that a lot of the legends I admire and people I look up to are now doing podcasts, and I can actually go online and listen to what they have to say.
‘I used to do a lot of it to gain the respect and admiration of people I admire, and you’re kind of chasing that down.
‘And when I lost the belts, I just felt like the admiration and respect I had for the game’s legends had vanished with those belts.’
AJ also insisted that he is now doing what makes him happy rather than what is popular.
‘This is what I’m saying, you can’t look for it (respect),’ he explained.
‘Now you have to be happy and content within yourself, and that’s what I’m aiming for right now, so what’s my advice? What will bring me happiness?
‘One day, I’m going to be a retired fighter, so I have to kind of put myself in a position where I can’t continue to seek admiration from others, because sooner or later, I’m not going to be in that position, because I’m not going to be a fighter anymore,’ he says.
‘And I think if I keep looking for that, it will drive us insane, so what I need to do is figure out what makes me happy, what’s in my soul. ‘What’s inside my core?’