Everyone just wants a sound bite from Anthony Joshua.
It’s well known that ‘AJ’ is one of the nicest men walking the planet and he is one of the rare cases of a bonafide prize-fighting superstar who doesn’t need to resort to trash talking in order to boost his profile.
Joshua lets his hands do the talking and is simply not the type of fighter who breaks out Conor McGregor/Tyson Fury tactics in order to sell pay-per-views.
But that won’t stop reporters from trying to goad him into engaging in some trash talk in order to make some headlines.
The WBA (Super), IBF, and IBO heavyweight champion won Sportsman of the Year at the GQ Awards on Tuesday night and, when he spoke to ODE at the ceremony, he was inundated with attempts to coax him into a sound bite.
Joshua was asked to comment on Liam Gallagher, David Haye and Conor McGregor but, as was to be expected, he didn’t take the bait.
“He’s a different weight!” Joshua said of ‘The Notorious.
“I’m not going to start trash-talking here… Liam? David? Conor?”
And while he deftly avoided the traps set by the interviewer, Joshua ended the chat with a jokey warning for McGregor, who had confidently proclaimed himself the “King of Boxing” before being stopped by Floyd Mayweather last week.
“Conor, I’ll knock you out!”
