Nigerian-British boxer, Anthony Joshua, has admitted that the pain he has experienced in his career has fuelled his desire to seek improvement.
The 34-year-old two-time world heavyweight champion is facing 27-year-old Daniel Dubois in an International Boxing Federation world title fight at the Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
Joshua is looking to join an elite group of fighters in becoming a three-time heavyweight champion in the all-British bout against the much younger Dubois.
“I’ve worked hard and been through a lot of pain, and I’ve worked hard to get better,” he told BBC Sport after Thursday’s pre-fight press conference.
“Hopefully those experiences won’t happen again because as you saw that night, I don’t like losing.
“I think I’m gifted with an ability to fight and compete. In boxing you’re able to read certain tendencies, you’re able to read your opponent, so I can always have an eye for that.
“But there’s a supreme level that you can take it to. And it’s happened over the past eight or 10 months. I’ve really honed in on those skills.”
Joshua suffered the second defeat of his career in September 2021, losing via a unanimous decision and relinquishing his WBA, IBF and WBO titles to Oleksandr Usyk.
The Ukrainian won the rematch in August 2022 by a split decision.
Joshua has since rebuilt his reputation and worked his way back to mandatory challenger position, gaining four successive victories against Jermaine Franklin, Robert Helenius, Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou.
