INTERNATIONAL: Former two-time unified world heavyweight champion, Britain's Anthony Joshua said he is 'looking forward' to his next boxing bout against Oleksandr Usyk and is confident of redeeming himself after being beaten by the Ukrainian in an unanimous points decision loss last September.
Speaking at EXPO 2020 Dubai, the former two-time unified world heavyweight champion also conceded that the second loss of his career hurt the most and that he was simply beaten by the better fighter on the night.
Joshua, who is expected to face Usyk for a second time in either March or April having triggered his rematch clause last October, defiantly weighted in on where he sees himself in the current heavyweight picture among the likes of Usyk, Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder.
The heavyweight boxer has shared his feelings during an interview:
"Yeah, definitely, definitely. Fully motivated, fully motivated. I'm normally someone that looks at the positive, but there isn't a positive, I need to right that wrong and that's it. Let me not complicate it. Right the wrong, get back on the gravy train, then it's a fight I know I can win, it's a fight he probably knows he can win. You know, he thought that in the first place, I thought it in the first place. He got the better of me. I'm going to come back, try something, we're going for it. I'm looking forward to it."
"When I lost the first time, as I said, I never made no excuses, but I had my reason and I always felt like 'cool', you know, I took my loss, but I'll get it back. I knew I'd get it back. So, I just brushed that one (aside), but this one hurt, because I was a hundred per cent, no problems, everything was cool, went in there and I just lost to the better man on the night, and it hurt. But it gave me motivation to pull myself out of that position where mentally it killed me, and I fought my way back and I'll redeem myself."
"For me, you know, I took my loss. I'm not saying I'm bad, but I'm a good fighter, and I came up against another good fighter, and it just wasn't my night, and we bounced back. So, I tell people now, when I see sometimes the reaction of people, I wish they were stronger mentally, because one loss doesn't mean you should stop. 10 losses doesn't mean you should stop. You never know when your greatness is round the corner, and if I stopped today because it's 'I've lost twice, I'm not as good as I thought I was', I'll never be able to fully know how far I could have taken this. So, that's what I use this as a motivation for us. You know what? Even though I've lost, what else is out there waiting for me?"
"So, I look at some of the other fighters, and I look back at their careers and I think 'when did they grow a pair and start fighting people?' They weren't always that brave. Everything we see of certain fighters today, look back at them, and that's why I don't believe what they talk about, because I've studied these guys. They're not true warriors. A true warrior's a warrior from the start. They're not built, and for me, I went straight in the deep end ever since I've come in boxing, so, I just want to be remembered for someone who was willing, a true warrior and I fought everyone."
