IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua recently appeared at a Club Wembley members event where he was interviewed by former cruiserweight world champion and Sky Sports presenter, Johnny Nelson.
Last month in Saudi Arabia, Joshua bounced back from his first career defeat when he won a dominant twelve round unanimous decision over Andy Ruiz.
Back in June of the same year, Joshua was dropped four times and eventually stopped in seven rounds by Ruiz.
Joshua disputes the ongoing talk that he took Ruiz lightly and overlooked him in the first bout.
"My uncle wrote out a list of heavyweights when I turned pro and Andy Ruiz got listed as the ‘Upset King’. We thought he was underrated and undervalued but had a lot of skills and could cause an upset," Joshua said.
"I could tell you a million things but I lost, that is the situation. What I had to do was go away and look at what I needed to change. If you take all the praise you can’t expect everyone to be quiet when you don’t perform. Criticism gives you a chance to perfect yourself. If everyone is telling you you’re great and two people tell you need to improve - I would rather listen to those two people.
"The critics will always pick out the minor flaws and the finer details, which is good because you need those people to perfect yourself so I always view criticism positively. The thing that was baffling me was the boxing legends and the boxing icons that were saying I should retire if I lose again: 'Joshua hasn’t got the skills to beat Ruiz' and 'his manager is crazy for putting him in a rematch straight away.'"
Joshua has big plans for 2020. The first bout would take place around May of June, when he makes a mandatory defense against Kubrat Pulev.
There is also a mandatory order, from the WBO, that obligates him to face Oleksandr Usyk.
He would love to cap off the year by facing Usyk and also facing the winner of next month's rematch between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury.
"It will be better for me to fight Fury or Wilder now before they took a loss. In a weird way losing does something to you and the experience of going through it can bring out the best in you. A fight with the winner will happen for sure," Joshua said.
"I would 100% love to fight again at Wembley, it’s mad to say I’ve boxed here it’s a blessing. If it was up to me, in 2020 I’d fight Usyk and the winner of Wilder versus Fury."
For more information regarding Club Wembley experiences please visit clubwembley.com