Anthony Joshua was in a bad way leading up to his clash with Alexander Povetkin.
Joshua has revealed that he was struggling with illness ahead of his victory over the Russian fighter at Wembley, where ‘AJ’ successfully defended WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles.
Joshua kept his undefeated record intact by stopping Povetkin in the seventh round of Saturday’s main event, becoming the first man to finish the hardened veteran in the ring.
Next up for the British superstar will likely be the winner of December’s WBC title bout between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury, and Joshua will hope that his next fight week will be more straightforward than his most recent.
“I’ve been ill this last week,” Joshua told reporters at Wembley after moving to 22-0.
“And you know when you start thinking to yourself ‘these signs are bad’, but I pulled through.
“It hit me last week Friday. I had it over the weekend and I thought by Wednesday it would be gone. But I only started feeling better on Friday.
“It was still there in my head, I had a head cold. I felt like a heavy gust of wind could knock me over.
“On my way to the stadium, I was thinking I can have one more sleep.
“But I felt this way in training camp and still sparred 15 good rounds, so I’ve got one geezer in the ring who will fade sooner or later, so let’s just get on with it.”
