Anthony Joshua hopes that a third world title comeback will get him the respect he believes he deserves.
Joshua amassed the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO belts over the course of several years and then lost them to Andy Ruiz in June 2019 in New York, a defeat that he believes cost him his reputation in America.
He promptly won back the titles in a rematch at the end of that year in Saudi Arabia, before losing them again in September 2021 in North London, against Oleksandr Usyk.
Joshua exercised a rematch clause but the second fight has been delayed until this month due to negotiations to decide a venue, and because the Ukrainian returned to his homeland to defend the country following the invasion by Russia in February.
Speaking to JD Sports, Joshua said: “I feel like I never got that respect. When I came into this division it was whack and I thought, ‘Let me get in this game and take on anyone and everyone, it doesn’t matter who’. Maybe it was because I was British that nobody was respecting my thing.
“I wanted to bring the heavyweight division to Great Britain and show that we are solid. Because I think that sometimes people just think we drink tea and eat biscuits and sit with the Queen.
“I used to have people say things like, 'Yo AJ, dawg, what’s the Queen like?’ I felt I was not getting looked upon as someone who was a dominant force in the heavyweight division. People seemed to just think I was Anthony Joshua who liked looking in the mirror and had an ego.
“When big Anthony Joshua wins and becomes three-time heavyweight world champion, I am going to dash the belts, because you have to learn to respect me as a person. I don’t want to be respected because of the belts that I hold. I want to be respected for the man you see.”