Breazeale Says Joshua Was Gifted Gold Medal, Vows To KO Him

By Edward Chaykovsky

Heavyweight contender Dominic Breazeale believes IBF champion Anthony Joshua received a gift when he captured gold in the 2012 Olympics.

Breazeale felt Italian Olympian Roberto Cammarelle did more than enough to gain the gold. The unbeaten challenger claims Joshua would have lost if the games were held outside of the UK, but having the home advantage of London sealed the victory with the judges.

Joshua (16-0, 16KOs) captured the IBF world title in April with a two round destruction of Charles Martin.

He defends the title against Breazeale (17-0, 15KOs) on June 25th at the O2 Arena in London. Fighting on UK soil, Breazeale sees a knockout conclusion as his only chance at victory.

Breazeale said on The Gloves Are Off, which you can see On Demand: "[Roberto] Cammarelle the Italian, he won that gold medal. Fighting in your backyard leaving things up to the judges, you're going to get that nod."

"That's why I don't plan on letting that fight on June 25 go to the judges. I do not believe Anthony Joshua is a gold medallist. Cammarelle won that fight."

Breazeale was also embarrassed by the performance of Martin, who captured the vacant IBF title in January after an injury was suffered by Czar Glazkov. Martin appeared to mentally check out after going down for a second time in the contest, in the second round, and allowed the referee to count him out. Even Joshua was a bit surprised at how easy the victory was.

"Being an American citizen watching another American go overseas and fight in the UK and fight against Anthony Joshua I was a little upset at the performance he put together in that four minutes of shame," Breazeale said.

"I think Anthony Joshua broke more of a sweat in the back locker room then he did in the four minutes of fighting. Charles Martin wasn't good enough to be a heavyweight contender never mind a title holder."