Anthony Joshua has suggested that the recent UFC fight between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje changed his perspective on fighting.
In June, Gaethje stopped Topuria between the fourth and fifth rounds of a main-event fight at the White House, taking the lightweight title from the Spanish-Georgian.
The result on the South Lawn was a major upset, as Topuria was beaten for the first time and Gaethje finally realised his title dream aged 37.
Topuria was not only ‘beaten’ in terms of the result, however; he suffered significant damage to his face and was barely recognisable when he retired on his stool before the final round.
“I think you’ve got to be in the fight game to truly know, like, it’s not ‘lit’,” Joshua told Combat Evolved on Tuesday. “It’s not what people think it is, it’s not all fun and games. It’s a serious, serious, serious job, man.
“I think, when I watched that Ilia Topuria fight, and who was the other guy he fought? When I watched that fight, I stopped replying to people after that, because I said: ‘Yo, it’s not a joke.’
“I saw someone in Ilia who was ‘destined’ to win; the stars were aligned for him to be victorious. I think Ilia had beat people that Justin had lost against – you know, the odds were in his favour.
“And that’s what I’m saying: Ilia… not that it was a bad thing, but I saw him celebrating before [the fight]. He’s entitled to do what he wants, but I just took something from it, and I said: get back to being uncontactable, less accessible, because the fight game is so serious.
“You saw his face, what he went through; it’s not a joke, man.”
Joshua is set to return to the ring in Saudi Arabia on 25 July, fighting for the first time since surviving a fatal car crash in December.
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Ten days after stopping YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in Miami, “AJ” was involved in an accident in Nigeria, which claimed the lives of two of his teammates.
On 25 July, the former heavyweight champion will box Kristian Prenga in a warm-up fight for a long-awaited clash with Tyson Fury. That all-British super-fight is still without a date, but Wembley Stadium is the frontrunner to host the bout.
Fury will compete in his warm-up fight one night before Joshua’s, facing Mariusz Wach in Thailand.
