Anthony Joshua hasn’t been too keen on the discourse surrounding his recent career moves.
The former heavyweight titlist from London will be going up against late replacement Robert Helenius Aug. 12 at The O2 in London.
Joshua has been in rebuilding mode since he suffered two straight defeats to unified champion Oleksandr Usyk. Joshua returned to his winning ways earlier this year, under the stewardship of new trainer Derricks James, with a win over Michigan’s Jermaine Franklin in the spring.
Joshua was initially scheduled to face Dillian Whyte, but last Saturday it was revealed that Whyte being was pulled from the fight after testing positive for a banned substance in a drug test administered by VADA.
The British star was motivated to keep his fight date in place, and Helenius was willing to step in there.
The decision to fight Helenius comes amid rampant rumors that Joshua (25-3, 22 KOs) could fight fellow former heavyweight titlist Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia at the end of the year or early next year.
In a recent interview, Joshua expressed his annoyance at the public perception that a potential loss would derail a fight with Wilder.
“There’s two ends of it, though,” Joshua said on the BBC 5 Live Boxing Podcast. “There’s a big risk, 100%. And I could have waited it out. but if it went wrong—Let’s just say we’re strategizing our war strategy and we spoke about victory but we’re on the subject of losing. This affects our chances of conquering more land. Why can’t we still go to battle though? Why can’t I still fight Wilder? It’s too much emphasis [on win-loss records] …that’s what I’m trying to say.
“There’s too much emphasis on this winning and losing. Where it should just be, ‘fight,’ because you can always win. You only lose when you give up. You should always come back and fight another fight. That’s just what it is. That’s what I realized. Why am I waiting around for these people? Don’t I believe in myself? If it was to go wrong…it’s boxing, get up and go again.
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.