By Edward Chaykovsky
IBF welterweight champion Anthony Joshua (17-0, 17KOs) believes he just can't win with his critics.
The Olympic gold medal winner capture the IBF title after blasting out Charles Martin in two rounds back in April. He made the first defense of the title in June, after knocking out undefeated American Olympian Dominic Breazeale in seven rounds.
Joshua is set to make the second defense of his title on November 26th in Manchester.
Joshua's next opponent has not been finalized. His promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport, is attempting to secure top contender Kubrat Pulev of Bulgaria, who only lost to Wladimir Klitschko.
Hearn is working hard to finalize the details of his next fight and an announcement is expected on September 26th.
Regardless of the opponent, and the outcome, he feels the critics will downgrade the victory. Hearn has a plan mapped out for the boxer, which includes a return in March at the O2 Arena, and then a major stadium fight next summer against either WBC champion Deontay Wilder, IBO/WBA/WBO champion Tyson Fury or former two division world champion David Haye.
“It’s like, what can I do?” Joshua told City A.M. “With boxing, people say ‘AJ’s gonna beat him, he’s gonna knock him out’ and then when you do it they say ‘Ah, he’s a bum anyway’.
“In boxing it’s so hard because our comparisons are the likes of Tyson, Ali, [Evander] Holyfield. These great, great, beyond iconic, beyond legendary athletes that they compare myself to and ask: ‘Is he going to be that great?’
“To get that respect in boxing you have to be something that’s out of this world. If I beat someone like Wilder, they’ll say he’s sh*t. They’ll say ‘Oh he wasn’t that good, he’s just been fighting bums all this time’.