CARDIFF: Anthony Joshua says he has the mindset of a challenger ahead of his world heavyweight title defence against Carlos Takam on Saturday.
The bout will be Joshua’s fourth defence of his International Boxing Federation (IBF) heavyweight title but a first defence of the World Boxing Association (WBA), which the 2012 Olympic gold medallist won with a technical knock-out of Wladimir Klitschko in April.
But Joshua, who has won all 19 of his professional bouts insisted he remained humble ahead of a bout with France-based Takam, who only stepped in at 12 days notice after original opponent Kubrat Pulev, of Bulgaria, pulled out with a shoulder injury.
“I used to go to all the amateur boxing shows when I was an amateur and you wanted the interaction with your role models,” Joshua told a Cardiff news conference on Thursday.
“Now I see people coming up to me and I give them a bit,” he added ahead of a bout that could earn him up to £15 million ($20 million, 17 million euros), said Joshua who lives with his mother in London when not training in Sheffield.
Joshua’s unprecedented drawing power for a British boxer fighting in the UK means a crowd of over 70,000 is expected at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff — best known for staging Wales rugby union internationals.
