Former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has shot back at critics, including his own promoter Eddie Hearn, who believe the British star was relieved to suffer his first career defeat at the hands of Andy Ruiz.
Back on June 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Joshua lost his WBA, IBF and WBO world titles when he was stopped in the seventh round by Ruiz.
The heavily favored boxer was dropped four times before the contest was waved off by the referee.
Joshua has already exercised the option for an immediate rematch, which is targeted for the end of the year.
He denies all of the chatter claiming that he was relieved to suffer his first career defeat.
“As long as you know where you stand with your sh*t, good and bad, that’s all that matters,” Joshua said on Instagram.
“People are always going to interpret the story however they f***ing want… as long as you stay true to yourself and know where you stand in a situation, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
David Haye, a former two division world champion, believes Joshua can come out on top the second time around.
But he would like to see Joshua take a few more fights before a rematch.
When Haye was shocked by Tony Bellew, by TKO, he also went forward to an immediate rematch – and then suffered a career ending knockout, which came even quicker in the second fight.
“I think he can win the rematch but he has to change some things in training,” Haye said last week. “But it’s heavily risky to take an immediate rematch.
“If he went and had a couple more fights I think he would have a much better chance in the rematch. I really want to see the rematch and I’d like to believe it was a fluke. But I rewatched the fight and everything Ruiz was doing was calculated and well thought out.”
–boxingscene
