‘The fight game is so serious’

Anthony Joshua has revealed that a recent UFC fight had a profound effect on his psyche.

The previous two-time heavyweight world champion boxer watched MMA’s premier promotion placed on a show on the White House on June 14.

Within the UFC Freedom 250 principal event, Ilia Topuria suffered the primary defeat of his profession as Justin Gaethje sprung a monumental upset to stop him after 4 rounds and develop into the undisputed UFC lightweight champion.

Did Justin Gaethje pull off the largest upset of all time? 😱

‘The Highlight’ stopped Ilia Topuria to finally develop into a UFC champion on the White House.

How UFC Freedom 250 impacted Anthony Joshua

Anthony Joshua says seeing Ilia Topuria‘s shock loss modified his approach to fight camp.

‘AJ’ got a large reminder about how brutal combat sports could be when he checked out the damage Justin Gaethje inflicted on the Spanish UFC star’s face.

“I feel you’ve got to be within the fight game to actually realize it’s not lit. It’s not what people think it’s. It’s not all fun and games, it’s a serious, serious, serious job, man,” Joshua said during an interview with Combat Evolved.

“Once I watched that Ilia Topuria fight, and who was the opposite guy he fought? Once I watched that fight, I finished replying to people after that because I said, ‘Yo, it’s not a joke.’

“I saw someone in Ilia who was destined to win, the celebs aligned for him to be victorious. I feel Ilia had beat people who Justin had lost against. The percentages were in his favor, and that’s what I’m saying.

“Ilia, not that it was a nasty thing, but I saw him celebrating before. He’s entitled to do what he wants, but I just took something from it, and I said, ‘Get back to being untouchable, less accessible, since the fight game is so serious.’

“You saw his face, what he went through. That’s not a joke, man. It’s not a joke.”

What do you make of Anthony Joshua’s comeback opponent? 🥊

Kristian Prenga’s 20-1 (20 KOs) record looks good until you glance through his former opponents. 😬

Anthony Joshua’s next fight

Anthony Joshua will hope he can avoid a similarly massive upset loss in Saudi Arabia on July 25.

The 36-year-old is about to face 20-1 heavyweight Kristian Prenga in a fight that’s being billed as a warm-up.

A mega-money British blockbuster between Joshua and Tyson Fury has already been signed for later this yr.

An upset defeat like Ilia Topuria’s would derail the largest boxing bout the UK has ever seen.

Joshua has made the adjustments to his camp that ought to prevent that scenario from playing out, but anything can occur in heavyweight boxing.