ANTHONY JOSHUA is champing at the bit to experience that winning feeling again.
The former two-time unified heavyweight champion hasn’t tasted victory since his brutal knockout of Kubrat Pulev in December 2020.
Back-to-back defeats by slick southpaw Oleksandr Usyk have seen Joshua, 33, fall out of the world title picture and left him in need of a major rebuild.
But having his hand raised, not fighting a world title, is AJ’s sole focus for his next outing.
He told DAZN: “It will be interesting [not fighting for a title] but I don’t know how I’ll feel until I’m there.
“But the best feeling that will be good for me is winning. Because that feeling of losing is not nice, man. I’ll tell you, it’s not nice.”
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Consecutive losses to Usyk have given Joshua a fresh perspective on the pain of defeat.
He continued: “Now I understand why my son gets so angry when he loses. He goes mad. The tantrums afterwards. Now I’m like, ‘All right then, go and smash a plate.’
“Before I didn’t understand it. Until you’ve gone through it, you’ll never understand it.
“But the best feeling for me, regardless of the belts or anything, would just be – the feeling of winning again would just be amazing personally.
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“Not for anyone, not for the belts. Just for me internally, the feeling of winning is everything.”
Joshua was overcome with emotion after his Jeddah joust with Usyk last August and went on an impassioned rant after throwing some of his old belts to the floor.
He bravely admitted: “You saw after my last fight, I swear it tore me apart.
“I had so much riding on it, for me, the British fans, the undisputed fight.
“It just really tore me apart so, from a mental capacity, my close ones are telling me to rest, mentally.
“Physically I am down to ride, I am a warrior, I like this game and I like competing.
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“But, from a mental aspect, I think people have really seen it means a lot.”
Joshua is set to return to the ring early next year, with dust-ups against Dillian Whyte and Deontay Wilder on the cards.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
