Anthony Joshua ... Whats happening?

[DG]

The problem with AJ is he’s been media trained. It’s fake but profitable. He needs to tell the people to kiss his ass and be himself.

[DG]

Maybe he’s getting sick and tired of the nice guy act.

Fair play to him if he is.

Exactly.

[banjo]

I don't expect winners to be nice, sure some of them may come across nice in interviews and in front of fans and so on but behind closed doors they'd sell their own granny if it gave them an edge.

[Jimmy2020]

He probably doesn't know who and what he is. Or he might know exactly what he is and hate it. I.e. a 17 stone advertising hoarding.

[SAPFO]

He's been shown up in the past few years in a lot of ways, and even though he continues to appear in advertisements and stuff he fell off his pedestal the moment Ruiz beat him up and then he did what he had to do and fought on the back foot against the little fella in the rematch. The trouble is, if he 'had' to do that to beat Ruiz, a little pig, then he's not this Goliath that just walks through people any more.

Since then Fury's really stolen his thunder: the 12th round in the Wilder fight and the rematch were all stone solid bits of boxing history. People will watch them again and again. AJ seemed to be ignoring the returning Fury and building Wilder as his main rival but not fighting him, arguing over huge money, and the in walks Fury and almost completely removes Wilder from the equation. Fury's much more natural and funny and has a much better story in his resurrection from 30 stone coke fiend, his brother's been in Love Island and his Dad's all over the place whenever it comes to a heavyweight fight. We might take the piss out of Dubois and Joyce for being quiet and awkward in front of the camera but people have been very bored recently: I bet a lot of people watched that fight which was much more exciting than Saturday and had people talking and debating for days after... People also seemed to find both of their natural awkwardness in front of the camera endearing.

There are also people who love Usyk, who think he's hilarious. Dereck Chisora, Dillian Whyte, mad old deluded yank heel Deontay Wilder, These people are characters. So much has happened this year, the only time AJ has surfaced is to appear maskless, lean all over a mate and deliver a speech somebody else wrote at a BLM rally. People really didn't like that and if you've never watched it, in my opinion he comes across awfully in it and I've only ever made it halfway through. Here it is:
and all you have to do is look at what people have said in the comments. Everybody thinks he's an idiot. He just seems stupid and when he does break character and stops reading the speech he goes back to talking like a gangster, saying he's "down to ride" but that OG's have told him that the gang life is over because there's CCTV everywhere, like if there wasn't it would be alright, and talks about his old council estate where "people knew not to fornicate with me anyway" he just comes across as an idiot. A lot of people I know that watched that now think he's a racist and I wonder how many fans he lost just in that video?

He looked tentative and gun shy against Pulev on Saturday, who looked like a little old man in there next to him. Neither of them did anything for two rounds and in round 3 AJ was putting him over and had him literally turning his back and running away and he still had him in there for another 6. He just doesn't exude that confidence he had before. And his reluctance to call out Fury... Deferring to Eddie Hearn to do it for him. He might be absolutely minted but I just think his popularity has nose dived among a lot of people.

I’m as centre right as they come, but people have taken this well out of context. AJ actually said “Every life matters” in this statement, and mainly wanted to stop kids, especially black kids, going off track by providing a place to go. The part about “support your own community” is a valid point. Muslims do it, hence they have prospered. Indians do it, again, they prosper. Black youth, especially Caribbean, have a different mindset, and it’s true it does seem mainly crime related as back in the day when our country was openly racist, the black community had no choice but crime, as it was what they were taught to gain power, respects, and survive. It’s a mindset that need changing, and starting on your doorstep is the logical thing to do. AJ said we need black coppers too. Hardly a BLM policy.

Well, the whole video is there and he said what he said. He said "every life matters" in the same way that somebody says "I'm not racist" before saying something racist. You're centre right? I'm pretty left wing but pragmatic about a lot of stuff so we'll say centre left, and I thought he was talking absolute cobblers in that video, especially with all the coronavirus references while leaning all over his mate and not even a mask anywhere near him. Does he suddenly start being likeable in the second half of the video because, like I said, I only got to the halfway point and gave up. So the second half 'contextualises' the first 6 minutes of ill thought out old guff and roadman grandstanding? I need to watch it until the end?

There's always the time AJ's phone 'got hacked' and he went off at Eddie Chambers for being a "superior Black man" and working with the Fury's? That got buried pretty quick.

Anyway, forget that video, or his mask of humbleness gradually slipping. I don't really care if he's racist or not. Mike Tyson was openly racist, wasn't he? Openly a horrible man. And he's absolutely loved now. AJ's not what people thought he was. He's not what he thought he was. Fury's in his head already if he can't even bring himself to mention his name because he was miffed that he didn't want to be ringside to call him out. Therefore I agree with the OP.

Are you on about where he kept saying “the virus” ?? He was not on about COVID-19 at all. The ‘virus’ he was talking about was the alleged racism. He’s not in the grip of BLM at all. You’ve just taken what you wanted out of it like most people as you clearly didn’t actually ‘listen’ to it. Trust me, go and have a listen word for word and you will find out it’s a storm in a teacup and people are just trashing him because he’s loft, and because they are now sucking Fury off.

[emallini]

Why do boxing fans always over react and cry over everything?

[Steveh583]

AJ is "down to ride"

[Cyclops]

I’m as centre right as they come, but people have taken this well out of context. AJ actually said “Every life matters” in this statement, and mainly wanted to stop kids, especially black kids, going off track by providing a place to go. The part about “support your own community” is a valid point. Muslims do it, hence they have prospered. Indians do it, again, they prosper. Black youth, especially Caribbean, have a different mindset, and it’s true it does seem mainly crime related as back in the day when our country was openly racist, the black community had no choice but crime, as it was what they were taught to gain power, respects, and survive. It’s a mindset that need changing, and starting on your doorstep is the logical thing to do. AJ said we need black coppers too. Hardly a BLM policy.

Well, the whole video is there and he said what he said. He said "every life matters" in the same way that somebody says "I'm not racist" before saying something racist. You're centre right? I'm pretty left wing but pragmatic about a lot of stuff so we'll say centre left, and I thought he was talking absolute cobblers in that video, especially with all the coronavirus references while leaning all over his mate and not even a mask anywhere near him. Does he suddenly start being likeable in the second half of the video because, like I said, I only got to the halfway point and gave up. So the second half 'contextualises' the first 6 minutes of ill thought out old guff and roadman grandstanding? I need to watch it until the end?

There's always the time AJ's phone 'got hacked' and he went off at Eddie Chambers for being a "superior Black man" and working with the Fury's? That got buried pretty quick.

Anyway, forget that video, or his mask of humbleness gradually slipping. I don't really care if he's racist or not. Mike Tyson was openly racist, wasn't he? Openly a horrible man. And he's absolutely loved now. AJ's not what people thought he was. He's not what he thought he was. Fury's in his head already if he can't even bring himself to mention his name because he was miffed that he didn't want to be ringside to call him out. Therefore I agree with the OP.

Are you on about where he kept saying “the virus” ?? He was not on about COVID-19 at all. The ‘virus’ he was talking about was the alleged racism. He’s not in the grip of BLM at all. You’ve just taken what you wanted out of it like most people as you clearly didn’t actually ‘listen’ to it. Trust me, go and have a listen word for word and you will find out it’s a storm in a teacup and people are just trashing him because he’s loft, and because they are now sucking Fury off.

I am fully aware that he was using coronavirus as an analogy for racism as I am allowed on my own with a pair of scissors. Have a word with yourself. I think I was more aware of what he was saying than he was.

[Delta Jay]

One thing about AJ, he could say absolutely anything and someone would seize on it.

I feel bad for him in a way, but not that much.

[(craig)]

One thing about AJ, he could say absolutely anything and someone would seize on it.

I feel bad for him in a way, but not that much.

I agree with this, especially when you consider Shannon Courtney's tweets have been buried deeper than her half arsed apology.

[Ezzard]

It was a bit odd not mentioning Fury. Felt like when Haye wouldn't be in the studio with Wladimir. As if he's already intimidated.

[margaret thatcher]

One thing about AJ, he could say absolutely anything and someone would seize on it.

I feel bad for him in a way, but not that much.

I agree with this, especially when you consider Shannon Courtney's tweets have been buried deeper than her half arsed apology.

what did shan 'used to train at aj's gym' courtenay have to apologize for

[dookus]

It was a bit odd not mentioning Fury. Felt like when Haye wouldn't be in the studio with Wladimir. As if he's already intimidated.

I definitely get that sense. He's downplayed Fury previously and was oddly noncommittal to what is the biggest fight in boxing after beating Pulev.

Why I don't know. Fury's not a massive puncher, even if he's bigger and a stylistic nightmare for anyone. Maybe it's Fury's toughness that worries him - both have been down and badly hurt but they react in totally different ways. If he can't put Fury away it's hard to see him winning.

[keirw]

It was a bit odd not mentioning Fury. Felt like when Haye wouldn't be in the studio with Wladimir. As if he's already intimidated.

I definitely get that sense. He's downplayed Fury previously and was oddly noncommittal to what is the biggest fight in boxing after beating Pulev.

Why I don't know. Fury's not a massive puncher, even if he's bigger and a stylistic nightmare for anyone. Maybe it's Fury's toughness that worries him - both have been down and badly hurt but they react in totally different ways. If he can't put Fury away it's hard to see him winning.

He didn't mention Fury by name, which was a bit odd, instead opting to mention wanting all the belts.

Coincidentally, shortly after the fight the WBO ordered him to fight Matchroom stablemate Usyk.

Also with the Fury/Wilder fight now not happening I can see the WBC ordering Fury to fight the winner of the Whyte/Povetkin rematch if the Joshua fight isn't signed before that bout.

It is entirely likely that the big one doesn't happens until next autumn, provided neither man loses in the meantime.

[Ezzard]

I can't help but think that they want it next. Eddie must be thinking he doesn't want Joshua in with a puncher bfore the Fury fight. And Frank/Arum never know which version of Fury will turn up from one day to the next.

They've all made a lot of money. No need to hold it up any longer.

[Counter-puncher]

They've all made a lot of money. No need to hold it up any longer.

if only that held true

[coneye]

Think , he knows the Fury fight is the big one , the moneys insane , and he's gonna have to go for it ..... But for now just probably thinking , its my night , its my time , FURY can wait ,, Its gonna be big , but for now its me and my win

[Dan Dares]

Why do boxing fans always over react and cry over everything?

This

[ERIC GUY]

how ,many on here, if they met AJ, and would ask for a picture or autograph, whilst telling him, what they wrote about him on a forum?
dont think many would,

[Jimmy2020]

how ,many on here, if they met AJ, and would ask for a picture or autograph, whilst telling him, what they wrote about him on a forum?
dont think many would,

Nobody over the age of ten asks for autographs, do they?

[rd350lc]

It was a bit odd not mentioning Fury. Felt like when Haye wouldn't be in the studio with Wladimir. As if he's already intimidated.

I definitely get that sense. He's downplayed Fury previously and was oddly noncommittal to what is the biggest fight in boxing after beating Pulev.

I also remember Fury saying he would never ever fight Joshua .

[rd350lc]

Why do boxing fans always over react and cry over everything?

Drama queens !

[Webbo911]

One thing about AJ, he could say absolutely anything and someone would seize on it.

I feel bad for him in a way, but not that much.

I agree with this, especially when you consider Shannon Courtney's tweets have been buried deeper than her half arsed apology.

what did shan 'used to train at aj's gym' courtenay have to apologize for

Yeah, sorry to be off topic but could you point in the right direction, can't see anything on google.

[ERIC GUY]

how ,many on here, if they met AJ, and would ask for a picture or autograph, whilst telling him, what they wrote about him on a forum?
dont think many would,

Nobody over the age of ten asks for autographs, do they?

haha, you dont get out much,

[(craig)]

I agree with this, especially when you consider Shannon Courtney's tweets have been buried deeper than her half arsed apology.

what did shan 'used to train at aj's gym' courtenay have to apologize for

Yeah, sorry to be off topic but could you point in the right direction, can't see anything on google.

It was just some old tweets someone dug up, historic 'bantz' regarding Muslims, fat slags and Vanessa Feltz. She apologised via twitter during the AJ fight and then retweeted several fighters tweets to bury her apology and then deleted it. If you search twitter you'll find it.
Just to point out I could care less if she apologised or not I'm not for this cancel culture, but the nature of the apology was embarrassing, if well advised.