Anthony Joshua has disputed whispers of his next fight with the kind of venom uncharacteristic of the former heavyweight champion.
In a now-deleted Instagram story post, London’s Joshua tried to shut down speculation that he could be headed toward a rematch with countryman Dillian Whyte later this summer. Recently, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, Joshua’s longtime promoter, told an outlet that he is presenting an offer to Whyte to fight Joshua on August 12 at The O2 Arena in London. Joshua stopped Whyte in the seventh round in their bout in 2015.
“AJ wants to fight in August,” Hearn said. “We’ve got offers being presented to him [Whyte] today. It’s a big fight, Dillian’s a big name in the division.”
Only one problem: Joshua did not seem to get the memo.
“I don’t know about any talks to fight Dillian Whyte,” Joshua wrote in his social media post, before adding, with unusual rancor, “Everyday, AJ this, AJ that, AJ’s hairline’s going way back, but I’ll still f- – – your girl, go retweet that.”
The last line was in reference to a rap lyric from the song WickedSkengMan 4 by British rapper Stormzy.
In recent years, ever since dropping two consecutive losses to unified champion Oleksandr Usyk, Joshua has made comments critical of the public and their demands.
It is not clear if Joshua would even fight in the summer. He is in talks of potentially fighting in the Middle East in December against Deontay Wilder, on a card that would also feature Usyk and WBC titlist Tyson Fury in separate bouts.
Joshua followed up with another post featuring a music video of the song with the caption, “AJ’s this, AJ’s that. AJ says: F— off.”
Whyte did not take too kindly to Joshua’s dismissive post. On Twitter, the Jamaican-born heavyweight lashed out at his rival.
“How’s about you stop being a b- – – – and let’s make the fight you f—— weird guy. Always talking sh!t tweeting stuff then deleting be a man you little b!tch @AnthonyJoshua,” Whyte wrote.
Whyte was originally under the impression that he would be fighting Joshua in the spring after Whyte defeated Jermaine Franklin last November. But, in an ironic move, Joshua ultimately fought Franklin instead, defeating the Michigan heavyweight by unanimous decision at The O2 Arena in April. That was Joshua’s first fight under new trainer Derrick James.
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.