Anthony Joshua on fatherhood, friendship and street fights

In our exclusive interview, AJ gets personal as the heavyweight champion of the world and the April GQ cover star reveals the serious side of life outside the ring.

The big man with the big plan is currently in camp for his heavyweight showdown with Wladimir Klitschko, but Anthony Joshua still found time to talk to GQ about his life away from the limelight. In one of his most revealing interviews to date, AJ discussed his school days, being a superhero to his son, controlling his inner caveman and why he isn’t looking for love. Not yet…

GQ: How has life has changed since you became heavyweight champion?AJ: I would honestly say I’ve got smarter. But what’s around me, my team, the people I trust and love, that hasn’t changed. Because I have been tied into the same routine: camp, train, fight, rest, holiday, recover, family. But I am always learning and improving…Trending VideoDaniel Craig answers all the James Bond questions fans really want to know

What were you like at school?I look back on that time and I am very strict now, so I know I wasn’t good enough at school. How I judge myself today is that I want to compete with the elite – and that means anyone who is successful, from fighter pilots to businessmen. Because athletes aren’t the only people who strive to be the best. And learning that attitude starts at school and no way was I good enough. I took school for granted.

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Did boxing change the way you approached life?100 per cent. That is the beauty of the sport for me. It gave me the discipline and the structure of life. And not just for me, I’ve seen it happen with a lot of people who came to the sport and it gave them the motivation to get their lives on the straight and narrow.

**Did falling in love with boxing come easy? ** No, not really, but the key is to have fun. I can remember the first time I started training, but because I started enjoying it I don’t remember how hard it was. I just remember that it made me happy. It was hard and I did make mistakes along the way, but if you don’t face those mistakes and overcome them, you don’t learn. If you give up at the first hurdle, you’ll never achieve anything.

Had you been involved in many fights before you started boxing?Not really. I got in a few street fights, of course. The thing with me, though, is that I always try to diffuse a situation. I make friends. I could probably have a fight with you and then we’d end up going for a drink after. But I am not someone who backs down easy. You push me to the limit and you want to go that way, that’s fine with me. The problem then is, you’ll face the worst of me. But I will always try and diffuse a situation first – find out what the issue is before I start to resort to anything physical. I can do it caveman-style, but we are civilised people now and we should be able to talk and resolve our differences. If you give me no choice, though, I can handle that.

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Do you ever find that happens in life? Do people try and push you because they know you are a professional fighter?People do test you out in different ways. Some people will see you slap you on the arm and say: “What’s happening mate?” Like they know me, like they can take liberties with me… And I often think, I am sure you wouldn’t do that with anyone else. They are just little things that people try and test out on you because of who you are. They aren’t really saying they want to take you on, it’s just bravado. But that comes down to a man’s ego, doesn’t it? It’s how you handle that kind of thing that matters. I have to be aware of what I have to lose and what can happen if I rise to those situations. Like I said, I am always learning.

You have a core friendship group who have been with you for years. What do they do for you?I’ve got lots of friends, but my main group who are always seen with me, they support me like you wouldn’t believe. They wear my name on their back. That is hard to find. It’s like a brotherhood with us, and I back them the same way. Boxing has been a blessing for me, but also for my friends because it has given us exposure and experiences together that we probably wouldn’t have had otherwise. We experience things as a team… so if I learn something, we all learn. If they learn something, I learn. We are all rising together. 

We have talked in the past about how close you are with your mum… what is your relationship like with your dad?It’s good, you know. He’s got seven other children, so he is obviously busy with his kids. He was originally born and raised in Nigeria, so that’s where he is now. And I still chat to him, but really I feel as though I am my own man. Some people are imitations of their parents, but since the age when I started boxing, my dad was always travelling so I have made a lot of my own decisions. I do have the utmost respect for him though, because without him there would be no me.

Did you see a lot of your dad as a kid?Yeah, I did. It was only as I got older that I saw less of him. I remember him as a really hard-working man.

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How are you as a parent? What do you want for your son?Right now, he needs to be nurtured and taught to how to love. He is a free spirit at the moment. His mother, my mother, and his grandmother need to nurture him, so that he feels loved. I do that as well, but when I look at my son I feel that he needs to gain inspiration from me. In the future, there will come a time when he will need to come to me and ask me things about life, and even simple things like explain the square route of something. So I need to educate myself so I can answer those questions and inspire him. The thing is, he won’t be young forever and it is when he is older that he will need to know that he can completely depend on me. He needs to look at me like I am a superhero, and that he can come to me for whatever he needs. That’s one of the reasons I am looking to improve myself, be smarter, so that I can help him on his path. I won’t let him get away with the stuff I did at school. I wasn’t bad and didn’t get in lots of trouble, but that is not what school is about. It’s about working and learning.

Are you a strict dad?I don’t think I’m that strict with Joseph, I don’t know why. But with my niece I’m strict. I think it is because she is older, but also he’s a boy – he’s going to be a man’s man, he’ll want to spread his wings, be a Jack-the-lad, build his character. But I am sure there are things I will be strict about. But with my niece, there is none of that Jack-the-lad nonsense for her! My view is you have to be a good woman, respectful, one day you will be someone’s wife, you have to learn family morals… what it is to be a good woman.

Do you have a girlfriend right now?No, not at the moment. I’m very time limited and I would rather not lead someone along and promise them the world when I can’t deliver. So I am just straight up with women. And I get the same thing back. I don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket if I am not going to get the same back. I’m happy. I don’t depend on anyone.

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