ANTHONY JOSHUA believes he will always have to prove himself in the heavyweight division, stating it is tough to live life as a champion.
Joshua regained the IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles on Saturday, as he recorded a comprehensive points victory over Andy Ruiz Jr in a rematch in Saudi Arabia.
Ruiz stunned Joshua in his initial victory in New York in June, as the Briton fell to the only defeat of his professional career, and the 30-year-old acknowledged he had been drained by the pressure of retaining his title.
“The belts can be your best friend or your worst enemy,” Joshua, who is now expected to face one of his mandatory challengers Kubrat Pulev or Oleksandr Usyk, told reporters.
“It just depends on you as a person. Even at the weigh-in when I gave him the belts [before the first fight], I was just tired of them. It’s hard being champion. Trust me, it’s not all fun.
I just remember hearing Mike Tyson telling people ‘you couldn’t walk in my shoes.’ It’s not all what it seems, it’s a life of discipline, dedication and f*****g headaches.
“I’m always going to have to prove myself, aren’t I? That’s the name of the game. Over the next three to six months, I’m going to have to do it again.
“It’s no good winning this time and losing next time, saying, ‘Look, I won six months ago, let’s look at that.’ Even though I’ve proved it to myself, I’m going to have to prove it to you guys once again. I can’t get too comfortable.
“But I knew the belts were coming home. They spent some time with me and they spent some time in Andy’s house, and they were crying to come back to daddy.”
Joshua has reportedly earned over £50million from taking the rematch with Ruiz to Saudi Arabia, though he is hoping to return to Britain for his next fight.
I don’t know, man. London’s calling,” Joshua said. ”We’ve been away for the whole year, in New York and now here. But it’s nice to have a breather. It’s nice to have a bit of controversy, a bit of doubt.
“I’ve been out here for two weeks. I was out for five weeks before [in New York], got too comfortable. Now it’s back home to Finchley, back home to Sheffield, back to the grind. Being back on home soil will make a big difference.”
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All the best to the Cox family I hope ye have all the help ye deserve. Best wishes :)
@David O Brien: He won’t. Nobody with a brain injury in this country gets anywhere near the level of care that they should do. It’s a disgrace what they had to go through, but at least their profile helped get him some decent rehab. Others aren’t so lucky and just get banished to a nursing home & left to rot. Hopefully his case will help change that
@David O Brien: I second that.
Good luck Sean..
Best wishes to Sean and his family. It will certainly be an inspirational read. Well done Martina
YNWA
It has to be said, Liverpool FC have been remarkable to Sean & his family, Sean was name checked in the celebrations on winning the league. Well done JURGEN & LFC
Apologies something went wrong with my twitter account when replying to another story from Journal.ie sorry for any offence caused
@Maurice Frazer: no offence taken Maurice these things happen
God if the HSE got 2
@Maurice Frazer: what you on about?
@Looney Tunes: yea wtf is he on about ?
@Ronan Dunne: sorry all, something went wrong while replying to a post from Journal.ie ??
@Maurice Frazer: ah fair play Maurice, the journal messed up again,it’s the people that gave a thumbs up to a comment that doesn’t make sense,that has me puzzled
❤