This program me contains very strong language.
Can I see your hands?
Are those little marks from boxing?
Well, this one is.
What about on your knuckles?
You know, funny enough, I'm not a troublesome person,
I'll be honest with you.
Far from troublesome. But I used to get into fights a lot.
Back in the day? Yeah, and my skin doesn't heal too well.
So this knuckle, I was going to get chicken one evening,
and I ended up fighting six guys on my own.
And that was just, like, massive.
Really good scrap.
And I think this is from the same time I had that,
and I'm here to tell the tale today.
Were you putting people in hospital, do you think? No, no, no, no, no.
Probably. In a coffin.
No, I'm joking!
In a gym in far north London,
| was with Anthony Joshua, known to his friends as A).
Step round... Do you think you could take me?
Yeah. Seriously?
Yeah. What makes you so sure?
Because it's not questioning your strength,
but what I'm questioning is your boxing I1Q.
I can't believe you're taking that question seriously.
That was a ridiculous question. Thought I'd answer it honestly.
Why you stepping forward?
He's stepping forward, looking like, "Yeah, let me size him up.”
Come on.
Oh, my goodness.
The two-time heavyweight world champion
and global celebrity had agreed to sit down
and talk about life at the top of the most punishing of all sports.
I could actually get you a fight and it would do well.
Me? Yeah. For real? Definitely.
Yeah, because you will bring viewers to my broadcasting platform.
Who would you put me in against? um...
Maybe someone... I think like a Kugan Cassius.
He's a... Boxing journalist?
Yeah, but then...
I thought you were going to say, like, Phil Schofield.
What did someone say?
Piers Morgan. Piers Morgan.
That's a perfect match-up.
Number one, he's very famous. Yeah.
And I think I could take him.
In Greenwich, south-east London,
fans were streaming into the 02 Arena for Fight Night.
At the top of the card was what was being hyped
as a comeback fight for A following two consecutive losses.
Joshua for the win! Anthony Joshua for the win!
Second round knockout! Bang!
In pre-fight mode, AJ was surrounded only by his closest circle...
...50 not me.
All right, Ben?
How's it going in there? How's the mood? Yeah, good. Yeah.
How's he feeling? Relaxed, yeah.
He looks well.
Up for it. Yeah. Just got to relax now.
AJ's boxing career took off in 2012...
Representing Great Britain, Anthony Joshua!
...when he won gold at the London Olympics,
then teamed up with promoter Eddie Hearn,
using his explosive strength...
Oh, nailed him.
...to become a reliable knockout machine.
Britain has a new World Heavyweight Champion.
In 2017, in a career high,
he defeated the Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko...
Down goes Klitschko!
...in front of a record-breaking crowd.
Always there's been the dream of a match-up
with his fellow British heavyweight, Tyson Fury.
But defeat in his last two fights and a meltdown in the ring
took some of the shine off AJ's crown.
A year on, and tonight was being viewed
as a way to get A back to his winning ways
against a relative unknown from Saginaw, Michigan,
called Jermaine Franklin.
Everybody knows that AJ's been around a long time.
He's accomplished a lot,
so we do respect him for that.
But, you know,
it's a new kid on the block now, and he come here to take over.
COMMENTATOR: Well, here we go.
It's looking absolutely splendid, isn't it?
A sold-out 02 Arena, 19,000 tickets.
There are a lot of people saying if he loses, it's career over.
Listen, it wouldn't be ideal, but ultimately, I expect him to win.
Are you a friend of AJ's?
I've known him for a long time. What's your...?
I mean, what observations would you make about him and his personality?
His personality? Observations?
We've got a big hard case here, haven't we? One more time, soft lad.
I want to be famous like Tony.
Just to zoom out for a second,
because obviously for the non-boxing fans,
what they're mainly thinking about
is, why would you go in there and get hurt, or hurt someone else?
That's what we do.
It has to mean more than anything in the world to you,
and that's the only way you will get the ultimate success in this sport.
That's for you, bro.
Me, I'm like, always, I'm like, every time I get in the ring now
and I'L be like, "Oh, for fuck's sake, what am I doing here?
"I need to stop." I'm like, "Can I come out of the ring and go home?"
I'm like, "If I do that, then I become a pussy," so I fight.
And when I've finished, I'm like, "You know what? I want to go again."
If you want to succeed in this business,
in this horrible, brutal sport, it has to be your life.
ANNOUNCER: And now entering the arena,
A}, Anthony Joshua!
And then it was showtime.
BELL RINGS
Joshua, back at London's 02 Arena!
Fans had been hoping for a knockout,
but Franklin proved tougher than many had expected,
soaking up punishment and counter punching.
And once again, Franklin shows more than creditable resistance
in taking that clean shot.
Oh, a big right hand from Joshua.
Last few moments of the contest. BELL RINGS
The bell sounds.
When the decision came, a win on points after 12 rounds...
Anthony Joshua!
CHEERING
...A) seemed not overly thrilled.
A week later, at the gym where A) had taken his first lessons
in boxing as a teenager, we sat down for a gloves-off conversation.
Anthony Joshua, two-time world champion, an incredible fighter.
You won on Saturday night, but before that,
there'd been three losses in five fights. Yes.
And questions were being asked.
To some extent, questions, I think, are still being asked, right? Yes.
About whether you will be the fighter...
...that everyone dreamed of you being.
Well, let me ask you a question.
Are you the same person you was ten years ago?
No. Neither am I.
I'm better. Yeah, but is better...?
When people say... That was a joke, by the way.
But maybe not. I don't know that I'm much worse.
Exactly. AllL I mean is that, in the ring, you looked quite worried.
Huh?!
Believe it or not. What did you see?
Concern on your face.
I've seen you happy after fights,
and after that fight, you did not look happy. Certain fights.
Why should I be ecstatic and over the moon
of beating a guy that I should be beating?
When I beat the champions of the division,
then you'll see me excited.
If you beat Tyson Fury? I'd be over the moon.
Would you? Yeah, of course.
Would you like to? Yeah, of course.
Are you friendly with him?
Not really.
But I respect what he's done.
I think he called you a dosser.
Yeah, but...
That's his standard term of abuse.
Yeah. "You big dosser."
Yeah.
"He's a body-builder." Yeah.
"He is a businessman. I am a Spartan."” Yeah.
Have you got one of those putty Tyson Fury dolls or something?
No, I'm joking.
You must like him, though. What makes you say that?
Cos you can memorise every quote of his.
Ah, he's very quotable, isn't he?
He is, to be fair. And he's got that distinctive...
Like he's eaten a frog voice? Yeah. Yeah.
Do you think you could beat him? Yeah.
Wouldn't be easy, though. No.
The bookies, I think, would favour him. Yeah.
Do you agree? Yeah.
But it's good.
Gives me a bit more...
You know? Yeah.
It's a challenge, but one I'll be up for.
What do you think is the secret to your success in the ring?
In the simplest form? Mm-hm.
God.
That's not the answer I was looking for.
OK, putting God to one side... OK.
God doesn't like being put to one side.
But in this case... Doesn't mind. ..he doesn't mind.
Is it natural ability?
So you have a natural... Instinctive ability.
Yeah, you have a natural instinctive skill that can be developed. Mm-hm.
But then I fell in love with the fitness regime,
because when I was a young lad, I was on the gange, on the haze,
the lemon. And if you can't get these distractions out of your life,
you can't put your full focus and attention
on improvement as an athlete.
So for me, when I stopped smoking, I was able to progress.
How much were you smoking when you smoked?
Maybe, like, six spliffs a day.
Starting at what time?
Wake and bake. Wake and bake?
Wake and bake, baby.
Wake and bake, baby? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
How old were you when you started?
My mum's not going to be happy about this, right?
Go on. Probably about 13.
Mm-hm. Would you smoke a spliff before you went to school?
Yeah, or we'd bunk off school.
Do you recommend that? A} LAUGHS
I can't really...
For me, if you're listening to me, kids, don't do it.
Don't do it? It's not good. Yeah, it's not good.
Did you find it helped with your schoolwork? Not at all.
Kids, don't do drugs.
Shall we say that? Don't drink and drive.
Definitely. Smoke a spliff and fly.
Don't do... Oh! A) LAUGHS
Yeah. But do what you like. Do what you like.
You've used that line before.
Yeah, of course. Sorry, officer.
Yeah. So the thing is, it wasn't meant for me to be a champion.
Well, you've said that before, but what do you mean by that?
Well, I was in Reading jail in 2009.
Mm-hm. And then...
For reasons that are not disclosed at this point in the interview.
In 2011, I got kicked off the Olympics team for carrying drugs.
You had 70z or 80z?
Something like that.
Which is half a pound, which is more than you'd think for personal use.
Right? Take a while to get through that.
I started smoking more as time went on.
How much...? What does that look like physically, 70z or 80z?
It looks like a whole heap of cash.
It's said that you were literally in your Team GB tracksuit
when you got pulled over... That was my disguise.
...speeding in Colindale, north London.
Grahame Park. Yeah. Like, it's so basic -
you don't speed when you're carrying huge amounts of drugs.
When you're a big and black guy, you could be doing 20mph,
and, "Oi, you're speeding! Pull over!”
You know what I mean? It is what it is. Right.
You know, wrong complexion and wrong connection.
It's part of the game.
They see you in a Team GB tracksuit, which you've got on,
suggesting like, "I'm just, not only am I a regular civilian,
“I'm actually an athlete.” "Excuse me, sir, I represent you."
Did you say that? Yeah, like, "Sir, I represent you."
You said that? Yeah, like, "Come on, me?"
The sheer gall of saying that... "I represent you, sir."
Shameless. Honestly.
It's been characterised as a Sliding Doors moment
that it could have derailed your Olympic debut.
So this is a great question... 2012, right? London.
I mean, is there a chance that you would have not been allowed
to go to the Olympics because of that?
So the Olympic Committee, they... I really honour them,
because I got kicked off the Olympic Committee at the time...
Because of the case? Because of the case.
I started smoking again.
And then Sean from this gym called my mum...
Sean Murphy, who'd been with you...
well... "Get your son back in the gym.
"Stop messing about. Get him back in the gym. He's got talent.”
And then about six months later to a year,
Rob McCracken backed me and said...
He was your trainer. Yeah. He stuck by me, and said,
"Let him on the squad, he'll sort his life out, trust me."
What do you think Eddie's...?
You know, when Eddie Hearn signed you up early on,
what do you think he saw in you?
Potential. You already had a degree of fame,
based on being part of Team GB. It was the London Olympics, so...
I had a story. It was constantly,
"This is a lad who's used boxing to turn his life around.
"He could have been..."
Yeah. I was thinking, "Cor, dear, I never signed up to be a role model!
"I just want to fight." Really?
Yeah. But he's a salesman.
But in the sense that I was just someone
who wanted to better my life. That's all it was with me. Mm-hm.
And it's as simple as that.
But what...? What would I be as a promoter
if I only just sold that part of the story?
"Just a kid, he just wants to better his life.
"Yeah, don't worry about anything else.”
I'm going to sell you every part, nook and cranny of this kid's story
to make you believe that this kid is a changed man.
"He's the best thing since sliced bread.
"He came from here, and he's heading to the championship.
"Follow this kid on this journey. Come and watch him.
"If you don't watch him now, you're going to miss out.”
Goes in there, knocks a kid out.
" Told you! You missed out the first one.
"The next one..." Three months later, he's out there.
"Tickets, get them now while they're cheap,
"cos in a year, you won't be able to afford to see this kid."
Oh, prices rise. "I told you they were going to go up.”
The gravy train, baby. That's what it's about.
And what will happen? I sit in this hot seat now,
in the next ten years, someone else will sit here,
so I've got to make the most of this opportunity while I can.
In the run-up to AJ's big
comeback fight at the 02,
I'd been present for an afternoon of press at a west London hotel.
Well, welcome back to London,
ahead of perhaps one of the most important fights of his career.
Anthony Joshua takes on Jermaine Franklin, live and exclusive...
It was my first experience of the jamboree of pre-publicity
for a big boxing event.
Branded as a new dawn,
for A}, the pressure was on o build excitement for a fight
which, truthfully, he should easily win.
Hey, Louis. How you doing? How you doing, mate? Good to see you, mate.
All right? How's it going? All good, mate. Fantastic.
You've been working with AJ for how long?
This is my tenth year.
Tenth year, and he's only been pro for ten years. Yeah.
So the whole time he's been professional.
How do you explain the impact that AJ's had on boxing?
So the first time that a fighter is looked at as a hero,
as a role model, he started bringing boxing as a stadium attraction.
You know, Wembley Stadium, 80,000.
Sold out Madison Square Garden.
How much has he made, do you think?
A lot.
Tens of millions?
Hundreds of millions, hopefully. You know.
Don't you have a deal with him to do a number of fights?
For the rest of his career. Yeah.
For the next, like, three fights a year for how many years?
However long he continues.
So he's not legally obliged to do that? No, no.
I want him to stop when the hunger's gone,
because when the hunger goes in this sport, you have to get out.
Anthony, just talk to me a little bit
about why you think this opponent at this stage in your career
is the right opponent at this particular time.
I've got to respect every opponent I face.
I would love to be fighting for a championship belt, of course,
but that's not the reality.
Do you need to make a statement on Saturday night,
just to let people know that you're still here? 100%.
Maybe they do need to see the old Anthony Joshua.
It was a long afternoon of interviews...
...many of them focused on AJ's recent challenges.
I don't really look for credibility from outside sources.
Like, people accuse you of not giving me the respect I deserve.
That's not true, though. No, no. We're just talking.
I'm not saying that you do. I'm just saying...
I tell you it is how it is.
I want you to be the best you can possibly be...
Did you feel you learned anything from the interviews?
A whole load of questions they asked me,
I'm just like, "Why are you asking me that?"
Just baffles me. I thought you were very patient.
You think so? Yeah, I think I would have got a bit tetchy.
Yeah! Honestly.
I feel like you can get lost in your own words
if you're not just straight up. And hunger. Hunger came up quite a lot.
Yeah, like, "Are you still hungry?"
I want to do it! Yeah.
That's all this stuff's about, is competing with yourself.
Am I hungry to compete with myself? Yeah.
AJ's boxing camp had been in Dallas, Texas,
with a new trainer, the American Derrick James.
But for his last week before the fight,
he was based in a gym in Chessington, south-west London.
Ten, yeah? What one?
Up and down.
Oh, shit.
The conventional wisdom, for what it's worth, is...
Well, this was the most-liked comment under a recent post
that you put on Instagram was... You read the comments?
I read them. Don't you read the comments?
No way! The most-liked comment was... Not any more. I never did.
..."You need to put the streets back in your fight game."
Tell them to shut up. Ask them how many fights they've had before.
Do you know what I mean?
Got some geezer on Instagram telling me what I need to do.
It's actually Floyd Mayweather.
That's Louis' comment.
Was that your comment?! Get out of here!
I fought, like, 12 to 13 consecutive back-to-back world title fights.
Like, you have to adapt,
and you have to change your game throughout your career.
Oh, this one. "I'm a great fan of yours,
"but unless you put the streets back into your fight..."
That one? Calm down! I wish I hadn't mentioned it now.
I'm like, "Louis, come on!"
Do you have any other comments?
Yeah, I won't mention the other comments.
They're even worse. That was the nicest one.
"You need to fight like your opponent is trying to kill you
"and have no fear of getting knocked out and just get in there
"like you used to do in the beginning,
"and rip him apart with bad intentions.”
So I've put, "Frankie, fuck you..."
THEY LAUGH
I'm joking!
Do you enjoy boxing?
Do you know what? I really do.
Do you? Yeah.
But can I be bothered with all the bullshit that comes with it?
Sometimes it just turns me off massively. Yeah.
What's that about?
Like unnecessary pressure,
and people putting their fantasies on me. Yeah.
I don't live in people's ideologies.
I have my own standards that I set for myself.
And just because I don't adhere to what their standards are
doesn't mean I'm wrong, or they're wrong.
I just believe in what I believe in, and I'll stick to that.
Why is it so annoying?
Because they don't ask me like you.
They don't sit down and have a conversation.
It's like, "I'm going to label Louis as this,
"and I'm just going to keep on saying that Louis is this."
And it's like, why? If you know me, and you're from my industry,
why don't you just sit down with me and have a conversation?
They'll say, you must have heard it, they'll say, "He's gun shy.
"He hasn't been quite the same since the Andy Ruiz fight."
How long are we going to hold on to this Andy Ruiz fight?
It's like, OK, the guy beat me. I fought him four months later.
AJ's run of successes met its first real setback in 2019,
when he fought the Californian Andy Ruiz.
Joshua patiently sizing him up.
Ruiz had stepped in at late notice, visibly heavy,
and apparently out of shape.
A) had been expected to cruise to an easy victory,
but appearances were deceptive.
Somehow staying on his feet.
No idea how.
A clip to the back of the head in the third round
seemed to disorientate A).
Joshua's down!
The ref eventually ended it in round seven.
That's it! That is it!
The rematch went to A after the full 12 rounds.
A year later, he lost to the Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk.
The champ is in real trouble here in round three.
Eight months after that, the rematch also went against A}.
Oleksandr Usyk!
A) did not take the loss well, dropping the belts out of the ring.
You're a very strong guy. Very strong.
I don't care about strong. I have to have skills.
You're not strong. How did you beat me? How?
At the press conference afterwards, he became emotional.
Well, I'm upset, really, like, deep down in my heart, and...
Right, OK.
Oh!
His behaviour was widely criticised.
Unfortunately, I came up short.
My opponent was better than me on the night.
You took the belts and dropped them over the side...
Oh, yeah. That part... It was like that,
even though they don't even mean anything anyway.
Yeah. What? I ain't got them, so cos I ain't got them,
they don't mean anything now. That was ego and pride coming out.
Right, your pride, right. Yeah.
Like, I brought this heavyweight division back.
That's like that was in me, right or wrong.
But you asked me a question... Probably wrong, I think.
I don't think anyone says it was the right thing to do.
You asked me a question, and I'm answering it.
So I thrown them because that's what I felt like.
And, yeah, and I grabbed the mic, I addressed the crowd.
Could I have done it better? Of course I could have.
But I've just finished a 12-round fight
and I felt frustrated, annoyed.
I knew I was out of the title race.
And then the questions started,
"What is he like? Where's his head at?"
All this, like, "Can he be three-time champion of the world?"
People now create this narrative and put pressure on me.
It's, like, too much.
Gone are the days when it was for the fun,
when you're just doing it for the passion, you're a prospect.
Let's have a cup of tea. Yeah?
Are you all right? Yeah, I'm feeling good.
Oh, good, good, good. Come to the kitchen.
What shall I do, like, one heaped, like that?
Yes, sir. And then a bit more?
Nah, that's enough. That's enough? Yeah.
"Former Finchley amateur Joshua
"joins exclusive list of world heavyweight champs."
But do you know what I always find interesting?
We can't name hardly any of the previous heavyweights.
World heavyweights, you mean? Yeah. Champions. Mike Tyson?
But these are... That's what I was going to say.
We're talking about the creme de la creme. OK.
And that's what I just realised, that it's not all so important.
You put so much pressure on yourself to come and be this big star
and be perfect. I'm telling you, they'll pull you down.
And the higher you are, the bigger the drop. Of course.
So that's why I try not to put too much pressure on myself,
because that big status, I feel like it drives you away
from some of your core values. Sounds like you're worried about it.
That's what I get from that.
Because I feel like there's this inner voice that's telling you,
"It doesn't matter that much. It doesn't matter that much."”
And I feel like that must mean that there's another part
that you're not acknowledging that's saying it does matter that much.
Yeah. Yeah. I just want to be normal. Yeah?
I just want to be normal, I don't want to put myself in...
You want to put your feet up, smoke a bit of gange.
It's just how it is out here. We get some fly...
What was the term, fly chicks?
Fly chicks and chill.
You rap a little bit.
Yeah, I do, I do like rapping.
I do like rapping. Have you got any bars?
More freestyle, but I've got tracks...
Do a freestyle. Do a freestyle? All right.
# Me and Louis in the kitchen, having coffee and tea
# Back in the day, you know that I'll be whippin'
# Big pimpin', Range Rover dippin'
# Me and my ninjas never slippin'
# Trigger finger, you know it stays itchin'
# I just put the clip in. #
What did you say?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on.
OK, um...
# Here I am with my man, A
# I'm asking questions, getting all cra-zay
# In a minute, we'll get in the ring
# Watch me, cos I can sting
# I can throw a left, I can throw a right,
# Put you down all right all night
# You'll be with your feet laying out, no doubt
# No doubt. #
No doubt. Yeah, no doubt.
Fire in the booth. Fire in the booth.
Oh, my God. So you've either got it or you haven't.
That's what these people don't understand.
That's what I'm saying.
So this is all about your timing.
Yeah. I can't do this one. It's difficult.
You see what I mean? Yeah.
All about your timing. It's moving around. I...
That's not happening.
And what's good about this is that,
see how many punches you're attempting to throw?
Continuous repetition. Repetition. Repetition. There it is.
Oh, I got it. Told you.
For a minute, I got it. You versus Kugan.
I'm hurting my knuckles. If it all goes to pot...
Yeah. You see that?
Yeah. I'm zero for zero.
Never fought. Never lost. Never won.
Undefeated. I am undefeated!
How many times have you been knocked down in your professional career?
I mean, in the Andy Ruiz fight, you were knocked down five times.
Five times, and then once against Wladimir Klitschko.
What was the worst punch you ever took, do you think?
To be fair, they're all bad.
Really? They're all bad.
You see in fights sometimes, where if you come back, like here,
let's say I've landed a good uppercut, and you're there.
And then you might be out, or as good as,
but you're being propped up. And then I can keep punching...
Correct. ..dishing out more punishment,
and that's always the bit that worries me.
For who, though, who does it worry? On behalf of the victim.
Why? Because I'm thinking, "He's gone,
"and the only thing keeping him up is a rope." Is a rope.
And those punches. And the punches. Yeah.
And obviously is the ref's job to step in,
but it's also the idea of the repeated concussive effect
of the blows dishing out long-term damage.
Well, I would advise most boxers, please think of your career after.
You put yourself first and you look after your health,
because that is the most important thing in life.
How would you know if you were beginning
to suffer the effects of traumatic brain injury?
OK, the medicals, you do your yearly brain check.
But the thing is... They can only check so much.
That's what I was going to say.
There's no MRI scan that can show concussive bruising to the brain.
They can only show... They open up, sometimes after they're dead,
they open up the brain... And then they find out.
...and it looks like Swiss cheese. Yeah.
So you don't know until it's too late.
Headaches, memory loss. Yeah.
Dementia. Alzheimer's. Parkinson's.
Erratic behaviour.
Mood swings. Depression. Depression. Yeah.
You know, there's this stigma that A} can't take a punch.
Al is afraid to get hit. Who said that? Well, people.
My critics, who are sometimes the loudest ones in the room.
My goal is to not get knocked out.
My goal is to knock out my opponents.
Because I'llL never shut my brain down for the love of the sport.
No way. Cos I know the sport don't love you back.
It's been reported that you've got a son called Joseph, is it? Yeah.
JJ, they call him, you call him. Yeah. He's seven, I believe. Yes.
His mum is someone you knew for years,
or maybe even a school sweetheart, called Nicole Osbourne.
Amazing woman, you know.
What year would you have got together with her, then?
Probably 200...57 Right.
So you would have been about 167 15, 16, yeah. Wow.
But you're not together with her now? No. No.
But you're friends with her. Yeah. So much respect.
Do you have a girlfriend? No, I don't.
Would you say if you did? Yeah, definitely.
Would you? Yeah. Yeah.
Imagine me going home to my missus now. She'd be like,
"You denied me," this, that. That's a good point.
Yeah, I don't want that stress, I be honest.
I ain't got no missus, no.
Yeah. You've been linked to Cara Delevingne. Yeah.
Bella Hadid. Yeah.
I haven't actually been with any of those girls, by the way.
Have you had a lot of girlfriends? Well...
You don't have to... I feel slightly vulgar even asking,
but you can answer it if you want. Yeah, I've had girlfriends.
Do you keep it all on the down low? No.
How would you meet women if you were? OK. If you're Anthony Joshua?
Yeah. Well, could be in the local supermarket, at the petrol station.
Really? Yeah. Could be anywhere.
And then they'd come over and hang and watch some...?
Whatever is best for her. However she feels comfortable.
“I'm hungry."
Deliveroo, or we eat out. How do you feel?
"I'd love to eat out." No problem.
"You sure won't get too much attention?"
Nah, nah, I don't mind. I'm a people's person.
"Where should we go?" You decide.
"Pizza Hut?" I love a pizza.
Sure, Pizza Hut we go.
How easy is that?
Really? Yeah!
Easy going. Easy going.
But then when they catch feels?
That's when it's like, "Scoot!"
A} LAUGHS
That's when it's like... Really?
Because, OK, the feels is good.
It must mean that we have got an emotional connection.
Or they're incredibly excited
about being with world-famous Anthony Joshua.
But when you meet Anthony Joshua, you'll realise that,
"Oh, he's just one of us."
Without being too specific, so you don't get stalkers,
but where is your place?
My place is in London. Right. I still live with my mum.
In our culture, it's like, you grow up with your family...
You mean in Nigerian culture?
Yeah, like, we grew up in our own family homes for a long time.
We support our parents.
Like, why am I going to move out and leave my mum by herself
for some girl?
They say when a woman marries a man, the man divorces his mum.
Hell no.
No way.
When a man marries, she becomes a child of the mum.
Wow. Quite traditional.
Yeah, I feel so. Are you? Yeah, I feel so. Yeah.
Family is the most important thing.
When a girl gets with me, she ain't just marrying me.
She's marrying my family. Wow.
AJ's family values were instilled in Watford's Meriden Estate,
north-west of London.
Born to a Nigerian mum, Yeta, a social worker,
and an Irish Nigerian dad who wasn't always around.
So this was my gaff down here.
A) remains fiercely loyal to the area.
Which one were you in?
My house was here. Right.
It's got all the trophies in the window.
Are those are your trophies?
A) LAUGHS Nah, nah, nah.
Someone just pulled up.
It might be the owner of the house.
We're the police. Is this your house?
Yeah. Really?
Do you know who this is? Yeah. Who is it?
Anthony Joshua. My G. Give me a spud.
Girls, do you know what this man is famous for?
Boxing! Jabbing! Jabbing!
How much are you worth now? I'm broke.
80 mil? I'm broke.
Are you not going to say? I don't like...
Listen, imagine I said I was worth this much,
I'd have more people wanting more money from me.
Do you get people hitting you up for money?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Old people, like, from the manor?
New, old. But it's all love.
I want them to hit me up.
Don't you think they should stand on their own two feet?
This is the thing. This is where it's nice to have the conversation
with them, like, some people can't.
Not everyone can be a businessman or businesswoman. No.
Don't just stand on your own two feet.
I'm going to give you a leg up. It's up to you to climb, though.
Imagine me being in a position I'm like,
"Ah, I've got what I've got and none of you can get any.”
No, that person's a word that I don't want to use on camera,
but that's not a good person, man.
You've got to... You should really try and help others if you can.
It goes a long way. People are really struggling out here.
Really struggling.
Thank you so much. Oh, my God!
Where do you play football? He's Luton.
Watch out for him, watch out for him. Is it? Do your thing,
I wish you well, yeah? Stay focused.
Oh! Look who it is.
Big man. Oh, my God!
All good?
Is this your aunt's spot, AJ? Yeah.
Oh, my God, it's open.
You can't just walk in, can you? Hello.
I'm Louis, nice to meet you. I'm Louis. I've seen you on TV.
That's right. What's your name? You do the documentaries.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Louis. Nice to meet you. What's your name?
I'm Deji. Deji, nice to meet you.
You've known A} since he was really small, like basically from a baby.
Since he was born. Really?
What was he like when he was little? A handful?
No, he was a good boy. He's always been a good boy.
His teenage was even better. A} LAUGHS
It was after he left here, though, that he discovered boxing.
Is that right?
Yeah, it was very quick. It was just like a hobby
or something to keep him out of trouble initially, wasn't it...
Yeah, yeah. ..you going to the boxing club.
And then next minute, it's like, "Oh, this is Anthony Joshua."
And everyone knows me as Femi. Yeah.
Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua.
We've always called you Femi. But everyone called me Femi
We need to get the word out. Yeah.
When I'm talking to you, I'll say, "How is Femi?"
And I'll say, "OK, Femi's all right. How is Anthony?"
Yeah. Really? Cos we can separate the two.
What do you mean by that?
Femi is Femi, my nephew, my son, family.
But people in the world, it's Anthony, as a boxer,
so I want to see how he's feeling in that life,
in that part of his world.
Femi comes first. Femi comes first.
Would you like to see him get the belts back?
Yes, of course. He will get... You will get the belts back.
You will. God willing. Three times winner. What you call it?
Three times winner. Yeah, you will.
Three times winner. You will.
God willing. God willing.
Oh, my gosh. A} LAUGHS
That's Yemi. Is that Yemi? I haven't got my glasses.
Yeah, that's Yemi. That's his sister. Yeah.
Rah, Deji, that's jokes, bruv. That's how I remember Deji.
Are you in this one? Yeah. In the yellow shirt.
That's you? Yeah.
I was always tall, though.
Yeah, looking at it now...
Like a foot taller than Deji. Yeah.
There's only a month between you guys, exactly a month.
You remember when you got lost?
Yeah, I remember that as well.
I was at the back, yeah.
Is this you at the back?
When you wore this Adidas shirt, you always got lost,
so we said, "Don't wear this shirt when we're going out."
Yeah. The curse of the Adidas shirt. Yeah. Good times, man.
It was said that you made 20 million for the fight at the weekend.
No. No?
30. No, I'm joking.
And that you got, what was it, 35 for the Usyk rematch?
Do you know what it is with the... with the figures and stats?
I think it's...
What benefit does it do,
putting those figures and stats out there for me?
Might make you...feel important.
A} LAUGHS
I mean, you jokingly referred to Eddie Hearn
and said that you were his cash cow, right? Yeah.
But I remember I said... You said jokingly.
Yeah. Would you say it was jokingly? Yeah, yeah.
There's an element of truth.
There's an element of truth. Mm.
Yes, I am a businessman. I'm a prize-fighter, yes.
But I've only said once it's about the money.
Once, at my last press conference. And the only reason...
No, you also said it when you were interviewed at the Oxford Union.
They said, "Who are you at your core?" A businessman.
And you said something like, “I'm about the money."
Do you know why?
When I watched, like, Holyfield, Riddick Bowe, and Mike Tyson,
these guys lost so much money. And what it is...
Yeah, Holyfield, legendary American heavyweight.
Lost everything. Must have made tens of millions.
Tens! They could... They could be billionaires now.
Yeah, and he went bankrupt. He had nothing.
Tyson went bankrupt as well.
All these things I was thinking to myself,
"I just don't want to make the same mistakes," because as a businessman,
you could lose it all and you can make a comeback.
But as an athlete, you can't go back and relive your youth,
so everything you do today, you have to be...
...aware that this is the only chance you have at it.
That's why I said, like, it's not just about the money,
but I just understand that this is the only chance I have
at making the money.
With all its hype and myth-making,
it's easy to forget that, for the fighters,
boxing is mainly just a way to earn a living...
...though one with the ever-present possibility
of serious physical harm.
After AJ's fight, I thought I noticed a muted atmosphere.
How you doing, Louis? How are you feeling? I feel all right.
You happy? Er...
...I have no emotion.
Really? Yeah, not right now. Not right now.
Do you know what? OK, the emotion I feel, right, is,
if I'm going to be completely honest,
is that I let a lot of people down. Really? Yeah, in a way.
I'm happy that I could go the distance,
but in terms of how I feel, I feel like I let people down
because I'll be honest, no-one wants to see 12 rounds of boxing.
It's crazy. Mm. And the negative is we didn't knock him out,
and that's what champs should do.
Going into the ring tonight, did it feel do or die for you?
I'm a very realistic person, yeah?
Like, life is short.
Don't put that pressure on yourself.
A) seemed to feel conflicted about the path he was on.
It's a fight, don't get me wrong,
and it's a sport where you take people out.
But I'll be honest with you,
Mike Tyson went 12 rounds with people like Pinklon Thomas
and I think it was Tony Tubbs?
Tony Tucker. Tony Tucker, yeah, he went 12.
What's wrong with me going 12 rounds?
A consummate athlete beloved by millions
who also risked his health every time he fought,
he embodied the painful tensions inherent to boxing,
the heroism and the foolhardiness,
along with the question of when it's time to stop.
One or two commentators of some credibility, ex-boxers,
have said, “I don't know why he doesn't retire.
"His heart's not in it. He says he's just doing it for money.
"Money is not a reason.
“If he doesn't really want to do it, he shouldn't be doing it."
Sometimes it leaves me speechless, because everything I say,
are we going to dissect every little thing that comes out of my mouth
and use it as a narrative to create a story?
That's why sometimes I just keep myself to myself.
If we take the money part out...
No, but the money thing's a massive issue, right?
Well, I think... What I'm trying to explain here... OK, go on.
...is that people are living in their own head.
They put their own thoughts and make it my reality.
They don't ask me the question.
If it is about the money, yeah, it plays a part,
but I'm passionate. This is all I know.
This is what I dedicate my life to.
Do I want to get myself to the championship? I would love to.
Am I going to be smart in how I get there? Yeah.
Do I know a lot more about boxing than I used to? 100%.
Am I still trying to improve as a boxer? Yeah.
How come he doesn't fight with the same passion he used to?
Because I'm a better boxer than I was then.
From where I began to going on to achieving, it's never enough.
Will he ever be three-time champ in the world?
It's just too much.
Maybe I should stop if I can't deal with it.
Innit.
Whether my head's in a good or a bad place,
it's better than where I started.
So I'm going to keep on marching through hell
like I own this motherfucker, and I'm going to keep on raising hell.
And then when I'm done, I know I would have conquered,
conquered my own self, conquered everything that I wanted to conquer,
and I'll move on to a different transition of my life.
I'm glad we spoke.
I learned that you can rap. Yes.
All these type of things. I think you were better.
I would say you were better, to be fair. No. Honestly.
Yeah? I think you were really good.
Let's stop there. Thank you.
Louis is like, "Thank God for that!
"Never get them hours back.”
Oh, my goodness.
He's like, "My God, I tried to knock him out in round one.
"He kept on coming back." Louis, fire Louis.
A} LAUGHS
Brilliant.