“I’m not sure, you tell me.”
Former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has delivered one of the frostiest interviews of all time in a clip that has now gone viral on social media.
The heavyweight boxer is set to fight Otto Wallin as the main event of an incredible card of boxing this Saturday that sees the likes of Deontay Wilder, Daniel Dubois, Joseph Parker and Jarrell Miller all fighting.
The fight is taking place in Saudi Arabia, and is set to be a spectacle, but with countless interviews and media events racked up to build up the fight, the English fighter had clearly maxed out his social battery.
Queensbury PR man Dev Sahni – who Joshua clashed with during an awkward press conference last month – kicked off the interview by offering the boxer a handshake only to be met with a fist bump, and that set the tone from that point on.
Sahni asked the fighter if Saudi Arabia was “becoming the home of boxing” after his third fight in the country.
Joshua replied: “I’m not sure, you tell me.”
He was then asked what he has made of the capital city, and he kept his answer brief yet again.
“I’m just focused really, I haven’t seen much of it. I’ve just been in the gym and then back to my hotel.”
Boxing commentator and pundit Andy Clarke then stepped in and asked him if his approach to fight week had changed at all.
Anthony Joshua keeping things short in a "fight mode" interview at today's grand arrivals ahead of the Otto Wallin fight on Saturday night…
[🎥 @Queensberry] pic.twitter.com/Reg6bdM0sc
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) December 19, 2023
“Process gets better,” he said. “You learn more – just lock in and fight. I just focus fully.”
After yet another awkward pause Clarke followed it up by asking if he had “retreated into fight mode”, to which AJ bluntly responded: “Correct.”
Even getting into the specifics of the fight couldn’t bring Joshua out of his shell, and when asked if he would throw a right hand straight down the middle at Wallin, he just said: “100 per cent. Definitely.”
Anthony Joshua shuts down any talk of potential fight against “drug cheat”
The 2012 Olympic gold medalist remained blunt when asked about Jarrell Miller, someone who the former unified champ was supposed to fight before he failed a drug test.
When that fight was pulled, Andy Ruiz was drafted in at the last minute, and that caused one of the biggest upsets in the sport as Joshua suffered his first defeat to the Mexican in a shock result.
Miller however, managed to get his career back on track, and is now fighting another Englishman, Daniel Dubois, on this Saturday’s card, but in pretty much every interview, the fighter has only talked about getting a fight with Joshua.
“He’s a drug cheat,” was all he had to say about the American before a long awkward silence. When quizzed about whether he’d fight him, he said: “No, definitely not.”
There was another long pause in the interview before AJ asks, “All good?” and making his exit to conclude what was one of the most painful interviews ever to watch.
Related links:
- Anthony Joshua gets personal with Tyson Fury ‘mental health’ remark
- Tyson Fury takes swipe at Anthony Joshua after bizarre video surfaces online
- Tony Bellew almost comes to blows with trainer after Anthony Joshua fight
