Tag: Joshua

Former world champions Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker re-established their heavyweight title credentials with victories on the same Riyadh bill on Saturday.

British boxer Joshua produced one of his best performances of recent times by stopping Sweden’s Otto Wallin, who was pulled out by his corner after the fifth round of a one-sided bout.

Earlier, Parker enjoyed a unanimous points-decision win over fellow former world champion Deontay Wilder, the New Zealander triumphing 118-111, 118-110, 120-108 in a dominant display that appeared to scupper pre-fight talk the American would next face Joshua.

There had also been speculation that whoever triumphed in a Wilder-Joshua bout would then face the winner of February’s clash between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, who between them currently hold all the major versions of the world heavyweight title.

But Joshua said he had paid no attention to Wilder’s fight, telling DAZN: “I wasn’t watching. I just focused on myself…Deontay, everything that he said about me, I could rip him apart right now, but I’m going to take the higher ground.”

Victory gave Joshua his third win of 2023 after he beat Jermaine Franklin Jr by unanimous decision in April before a seventh-round stoppage of Robert Helenius in August.

It also took the 34-year-old’s professional record to 27 wins and three defeats as he inflicted the first inside the distance loss of Wallin’s career.

Joshua is looking to become a three-time world champion following two defeats by Usyk and a shock 2019 loss to Andy Ruiz.

 “Not so much a throwback fight, just another day in the office,” said Joshua. “You want to do whatever it takes to be victorious. That’s all I want to be.”

Wallin’s only previous professional loss had come against Fury. But he had no answer from the opening bell against Joshua, who with just over a minute of the fifth round remaining produced a superb left hook that had Wallin stumbling towards the ropes.

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Earlier Parker, comprehensively defeated Wilder in the former World Boxing Council champion’s first bout in over two years.

Everyone had other plans but this is God’s plan,” said Parker, 31, who improved to 34-3 with 23 knockouts after sparring with Fury.

Renowned as a knockout artist, Wilder was involved in a trio of dramatic bouts with current WBC champion Fury, drawing the first before losing the next two.

Wilder’s long period of inactivity appeared to count against the 38-year-old, with Parker – who lost the World Boxing Organisation title to Joshua by a unanimous points decision in Cardiff five years ago – landing the cleaner punches as well as producing several thumping roundhouse rights.

“Well done Joseph, he did a great job avoiding my punches,” said Wilder, who fell to 43-3 with one draw and 42 knockouts. “ We move on to the next thing…We make no excuses. We’ll be back for sure. We have a little bit more left.”

But he added: “I’ve done a great job with managing my money and investing. I’m a happy fighter. I’ll be back soon and if not, it’s been a pleasure.”

Deontay Wilder is backing Anthony Joshua to put away Otto Wallin inside eight rounds to set up their fight in 2024.

Joshua and Wilder will share spectacular card in Saudi Arabia on 23 December with Wilder in action against former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker on the same night.

Should the heavyweight rivals come through those respective tests unscathed, it is hoped they will return to Saudi in 2024 to meet in a fight that has been in the making for eight years.

Joshua has fought twice this year, outpointing Jermaine Franklin in April before a devastating knockout win over Robert Helenius in August.

And Wilder is backing the Briton to record one more knockout before the year is out. Asked for a fight prediction, he told ES News: “I think Joshua knocks him out. Six to eight rounds.”

Joshua and Wallin fought as amateurs and have sparred each other over the years but their cordial relationship took a turn during a press conference announcing the fight last week.

Wallin, whose only defeat in 28 fights came against Tyson Fury in 2019, took aim at Joshua when addressing the media, insisting the former Olympian is ‘past his peak’.

Read Also: Joshua to fight Otto Wallin Dec. 23rd in Saudi

The two then came face-to-face in an intense stare down with Joshua sending a chilling warning to the Swede.

“You talk a lot, don’t worry about me, worry about yourself,” Joshua said. “All your doing is giving me more motivation. Keep talking s**t, all you’re doing is digging your grave.

“You’re talking about I’ve had my peak? Your next on my list. Good luck anyway, yeah. I’m f*****g you up December 23^rd . And if you’re talking s**t, don’t shake my hand after.”

In addition to Joshua vs Wallin and Wilder vs Parker, Daniel Dubois takes on Jarrell Miller on the stacked card in Saudi.

Anthony Joshua has reportedly agreed to fight Otto Wallin in Saudi Arabia on 23 December with Deontay Wilder set to face off with Joseph Parker on the same night.

Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk were set to meet in their historic undisputed heavyweight title fight on that date in Riyadh. But ‘The Gypsy King’s bruising night at the office against Francis Ngannou last month has seen that date pushed back to February.

Boxing officials in Saudi have decided the show will go on however and are in the process of assembling a huge night of boxing for that night just before Christmas.

Both Joshua and Wilder are ‘working to finish deals’ with Turki Alalshikh of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, the man most responsible for bringing Fury and Ngannou together last month.

While the plan is for the heavyweight rivals to face each other in 2024, the December card will have them in action in separate fights.

Should those deals be finalised this week, two-time heavyweight champion Joshua will take on Wallin in the main event, Dan Rafael reports.

The Swedish southpaw has won 26 of his 28 professional fights with his only blemish coming against Fury in 2019.

Read Also: Joshua breaks silence on links with models

Wallin turned in an impressive display that night, opening a large cut above Fury’s eye with a well-timed right hand before falling to a decision defeat.

Wilder meanwhile would take on former WBO champion Parker in the co-main event. The American has fought just one round of boxing in two years, knocking out Robert Helenius inside three minutes in October last year – his first and only fight since his trilogy defeat to Fury.

Parker meanwhile has rattled off three victories in 2023, part of the Fury vs Ngannou undercard last month where he knocked out Simon Kean in three rounds.

Talks are also underway for British heavyweight Daniel Dubois to join the card. A deal for the Londoner, who fell short in his world title fight against Usyk in August, to fight Jarell Miller is currently in the works.

Miller infamously failed a string of drug tests that saw him 2019 showdown with Joshua scrapped.

Other heavyweight fighters who could be involved in the card are Filip Hrgovic, Arslanbek Makhmudov, Frank Sanchez and Junior Fa. Light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, who is still to fight in 2023 is expected to be involved, as could cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia.

Anthony Joshua has rubbished rumours linking him with models Cara Delevingne and Bella Hadid.

The former heavyweight world champion insists she is single but has been rumoured to be dating several high-profile personalities. But Joshua, who has an eight-year-old son with his teenage sweetheart, denied he had been romantically involved with either of the aforementioned women.

Asked by BBC interviewer Louis Theroux if he has a girlfriend, Joshua said: “No, I don’t.” Pushed as to whether he would say if he did, the Londoner insisted: “Yeah, definitely. Imagine me going home to my missus now and she said, ‘You denied me!’. I don’t want the stress.” And asked specifically about Delevigne and Hadid, Joshua said: “I haven’t been with any of those girls by the way.”

Joshua was in a relationship with school friend Nicole Osbourne in his teens and the two have a son JJ together. And of how he meets girls, the boxer said: “I’ve had girlfriends. It could be in the local supermarket, or at the petrol station, could be anywhere.”

Read Also: Joshua recalls  best  boxing moments

Joshua still lives with his mum and said any future wife will be marrying into his family. “I still live with my mum. In our culture, we grew up in our own family home, we support our parents,” he said “Why am I going to move out and leave my mum by herself, for some girl? Family is the most important thing. When a girl gets with me, she ain’t just marrying me, she’s marrying my family.”

Despite his success in the ring, Joshua has kept his personal life out of the headlines. He is currently waiting for a fight date having seen a clash with fellow former world champion Deontay Wilder delayed. The rivals had hoped to clash this year but the bout has been put back until April at the earliest.

Having lost his world titles to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021, Joshua then lost his rematch with the Ukrainian in Saudi Arabia the following year. He has notched victories over Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius this year as he bids to return to the summit of the sport he dominated at his peak.

Anthony Joshua has recalled the time he fought six men on his own after ‘going to get some chicken’ – showing off the scars he still has from that scrap.

In a wide-ranging interview with Louis Theroux, the 2012 Olympian discussed his future in boxing and the pressure he finds himself under in his pursuit to becoming a three-time heavyweight champion.

Joshua has fought 29 times as a professional – 12 of those world title fights including wars with Wladmir Klitschko, Andy Ruiz Jr and Oleksandr Usyk.

His ferocious power was on show again in the summer, flooring Robert Helenius with a thunderous right hook in what was the 23rd  knockout win of his career.

But it was a scrap in a local takeaway as a youngster that left him with one of his more memorable battle scars.

Showing Theroux his hands, Joshua said: “My skin doesn’t heal to well.

 “This knuckle, I was going to get chicken one evening and I ended up fighting six guys on my own. Massive. Really good scrap.”

Joshua picked up his first world title back in April 2016 after sweeping aside Charles Martin to win the IBF title. Over the next two years, he added the WBA and WBO titles to his collection to become unified world champion.

His world came crashing down in June 2019, suffering a shock defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr to lose his world titles in New York. Six months later, he bounced back, becoming a two-time world champion after outclassing Ruiz in Saudi Arabia.

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Joshua was once again dethroned in September 2021 by Oleksandr Usyk, with the Ukrainian turning in another masterful performance in a rematch the following year.

The pressure on the Briton boiled over that night, launching into a passionate speech before throwing Usyk’s world titles out of the ring. In a post-fight press conference, he broke down in tears.

Having bounced back with two wins in 2023 working with a new trainer, Joshua remains in the hunt for more world title opportunities. But on the pressure of trying to become a three-time heavyweight champion, Joshua admitted ‘it’s too much’.

“People create this narrative and put pressure on me,” Joshua said. “Gone are the days where it was for the fun. When you’re just doing it for the passion, you’re a prospect.”

He continued: “This is all I know, this is what I dedicate my life to.

“Do I want to get myself to the championship? I would love to. Am I going to be smart in how I get there? Yes. Do I know more about boxing than I used to? 100 per cent. Am I still trying to improve as a boxer? Yes.

“From where I began, to going on to achieving, it’s never enough. All this ‘can he be three-time champion of the world?’ It’s too much. Maybe I should stop if I can’t deal with it.”

Shearer lauds Aina over display against Aston Villa

Newcastle and England legend Alan Shearer has praised Nottingham Forest star Ola Aina after his performance against Aston Villa.

The Reds ran out 2-0 winners on Sunday, with Aina getting his first Forest goal.

For his display, Aina has made the Premier League Team of the Week and Shearer was highly impressed with the Nigeria international and felt he did well.

The pundit told the Premier League: “He displayed great technique to score against Emiliano Martinez from that range, and defended well to keep a clean sheet.”

Aina has been in fine form for the Reds when he’s managed to remain fit this season. He’s started seven games for the Reds and stepped off the bench in another one as he settles at his new club.

Some supporters like to mock Forest over their transfer policy. In recent seasons money has been wasted on some players but by bringing Aina to Forest, the club has shown that they can be savvy.

Aina was also being courted by Leeds when Forest wanted him. On the face of things, a move to the Championship perhaps looks more likely but on a free transfer, Forest weren’t willing to miss out on the 27-year-old.

Anthony Joshua has revealed why he still lives with his mother at the age of 34, insisting that any future partner would struggle to convince him to move out.

Joshua, who moved back into his mother’s two bedroom ex-council flat in 2017 after earning an estimated £15million from defeating Wladimir Klitschko, beat Robert Helenius in August and is on the hunt for his next fight ahead of 2024.

The British boxer sat down with Louis Theroux to discuss his close relationship with his family and warned future girlfriends they’ll need to compete with his mum, Yeta Odusanya.

 “I still live with my mum,” the two-time world champion told the BBC. “In our culture, we grew up in our own family home, we support our parents. 

 “Why am I going to move out and leave my mum by herself, for some girl? Family is the most important thing. 

 “When a girl gets with me, she ain’t just marrying me, she’s marrying my family.”

The grounded boxing star, who is not publicly in a relationship, admitted that he likes to keep his personal life private as he cannot live up to the expectations people have of him.

Read Also: Fury mocks Joshua on  begging  for undercard  role

He continued: “Are we going to dissect everything I say and use it as a narrative to create a story? That’s why I keep myself to myself.

 “You put all this pressure on yourself to come and be this big star and be perfect.

 “I’m telling you, they’ll pull you down. The higher you are, the bigger the drop.”

Joshua was previously in an on-off relationship with the mother of his child, former school friend Nicole Osbourne, whom he once bought a £500,000 flat not far from his home. 

In April, the heavyweight fighter called Laura Woods his ‘dream date’ in a flirty interview with the presenter after his comeback win over Jermaine Franklin.

Woods, who is now dating former Love Island star Adam Collard, asked Joshua what he thought of his career so far and the boxer replied: “I think it’s blossomed amazingly, just like you.”

The flirty exchange continued as Joshua joked that former Chelsea star Ruben Loftus-Cheek had ‘beaten him to it’ by naming Woods as his crush. 

When the popular presenter asked who his dream date was, AJ said: “You. I know Loftus Cheek has beaten me to it!”

Woods then joked that there’s no competition between the sportsmen before asking him about his current relationship status.

Joshua said: “With boxing I didn’t want to commit because I didn’t want to go training and then I’m busy arguing with my Mrs. or something and my head’s not in the game.

 “So I just decided to keep my head where it needs to be. I’ve seen good relationships and bad ones.”

Eddie Hearn has claimed that Anthony Joshua could beat Francis Ngannou in three rounds on Mail Sport’s The Hook – despite the MMA fighter making Tyson Fury look like a novice during Saturday’s ‘Battle of the Baddest’.

The Gypsy King anticipated a rout in Riyadh ahead of the crossover clash, but was taken the distance by Ngannou over 10 rounds.

Ngannou managed to drop Fury but the fight ended with Fury claiming victory by split-decision, setting up a forthcoming clash against Oleskandr Usyk.

But the Matchroom promoter was the latest voice to express his surprise at the result, calling Fury’s performance ‘dreadful’.

 “People saying “oh, he’s let the boxing world down” – I don’t think that really matters,” Hearn told The Hook yesterday. “I think it was good for boxing in that it was an incredible spectacle. What Saudi Arabia did with the production, and the ring walks was amazing.

 “But before the fight I gave Francis Ngannou zero chance of winning, like, on paper it’s just the most terrible mismatch. A guy who has never had a professional boxing match. And I think there was definitely an element of Tyson looking through him, he wasn’t as well prepared as he should have been, but it was still an awful performance.

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 “They’re now talking about Ngannou as arguably the number one in the heavyweight division, and it’s the biggest load of rubbish I’ve ever heard because he was definitely much better than people expected he would be – but he can get beat by anybody from English title level (all the way up) to the number one.

 “But there’s some big fights out there for him now.”

One of them could come in the form of Hearn’s fighter Anthony Joshua, and Hearn shared that he had previously spoken with Joshua about the possibility of the match-up six months before his Saudi showdown with Fury.

 “He went, “I’m not interested in that, almost a bit gimmicky – I want to win the world heavyweight title again”.

“But now, having in most people’s opinion beaten Tyson Fury at the weekend, how can he not be credible – whether it’s AJ, whether it’s Wilder,’ Hearn continued.

Hearn also stressed that he ‘felt’ for Ngannou because ‘if he would have got the final result on paper, it would have gone down as one of the greatest sporting victories. Forget  boxing – in the history of sport.

After losing his rematch to Usyk last August, Joshua has recorded back-to-back wins against Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius.

Tyson Fury has mocked Anthony Joshua for wanting to fight on the undercard of his undisputed clash against Oleksandr Usyk.

Heavyweight champion Fury is pencilled-in to fight Usyk on December 23 but he will first need to get past former UFC champion Francis Ngannou this Saturday. A mega-fight between Joshua and Deontay Wilder has long been rumoured to take place on the same event as Fury vs Usyk, but the fight is far from being officially signed.

Fury hit out at Joshua in a recent interview with iFL TV as he said: “It’s quite embarrassing really when you’ve got a former heavyweight world champion begging for a fight, begging to be on the undercard. Is he a child or what? He wants to go on my undercard? Him and Wilder? Battle of the biggest loser? Come on, go and get your own show.”

“That bird has flown, do you know why? They are out in the cold frozen, that’s it. They are not relevant to me and I shouldn’t be relevant to them at all. It’s the only way that certain people, Eddie Hearn, can stay relevant is by talking about the champ. Do you ever hear me talking about him other than when people bring him up?”

Read Also: Fury blasts Joshua over undercard status

Fury has previously stated that he would be disappointed if a fight against Joshua didn’t materialise before hanging up his gloves, but has since changed his tone about the domestic matchup. ‘The Gypsy King’ also believes Joshua won’t be pocketing a $100m payday anytime soon and he should be happy with making far less money.

“People don’t want to make $10million anymore for a fight, that ain’t good enough. I made $10million for Wilder the first time and I was happy with it, so crack on. As for all this big fancy money that’s being thrown around, $70 to $100million I’m hearing, there’s none of that. That’s rubbish for them anyway, and I make sure of it,” he added.

“I never ever bring it up because I’m not interested in him, or his pal. They don’t mean anything to me, they’re finished and out in the cold. Just like I was all year, they were laughing at me and wouldn’t even return Frank Warren’s calls for a fight. So yeah, I laugh the loudest now don’t I? That’s what it is.”