Anthony Joshua won’t box until next year while he battles his mental demons

ANTHONY JOSHUA will not box in December as he struggles to rebuild his mental health after back-to-back losses to Oleksandr Usyk.

The 33-year-old London 2012 Olympics golden boy was dethroned of his WBA, IBF and WBO world titles by Ukraine brain in September 2021.

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And the failed with their august rematch – despite a much-improved performance – and broke down afterwards, tossing a couple of his old belts to the ground and crying at the post-fight news conference.

A decade of carrying such high expectations on his giant shoulders sprang from the father of one, after he lost his crowns and any chance of achieving his career goal of being an undisputed decider.

And despite the Watford icon and promoter eddie hearn Vowing that he would fight in December, the powerhouse pin-up has now confirmed that although he is fighting fit, his head is not yet fully recovered.

AJ entered talks with undefeated WBC Gypsy King Fury Tyson about a possible confrontation on December 3.

But he pulled out of talks when his sponsorship and commercial partnerships collided with the supporting role in the Fury programme, planned for the Cardiff stadium.

And now he has confirmed to the broadcasters DAZNthat his family has urged him to take an extended break to allow his enormous heart and mind to recover from the painful losses.

“You saw it after my last fight, I swear it tore me apart” Josue bravely admitted.

“I had a lot on the line, for me, the British fans, the undisputed fight.

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“It really tore me apart, so from my mental capacity, my close ones tell me to rest mentally.

“Physically I am ready to ride, I am a warrior, I like this game and I like to compete.

“But from a mental aspect, I think people have really seen that it means a lot.”

Bitter nemesis Fury has made a second career as a mental health activist, after his own breakdown coincided with a retroactive 2017 doping ban.

But Joshua suppressed all of his struggles until his rock-hard façade melted away in the scorching desert of Saudi Arabia.

He now faces another rebuilding process and will most likely return to the ring in the spring of 2023, against a mid-level opponent, to help him win again.

But watching his seven-year-old son JJ learn how to handle losses has also taught the 6-foot-6 ace how to deal with punches.

He said, “Even if I’m not fighting, my name is called every day, so it’s a mental pressure being AJ and maintaining a reputation, they go hand in hand.

“Trying to do this, and to do it correctly, is difficult. Boxers are rough and tough, but this boxing is a lot of mental pressure.

“I won’t know how I’ll feel until I’m back there. But the best feeling, which will do me good, is to win.

“That feeling of losing is not pleasant. Now I know why my son gets so mad when he loses at something. I never understood it before.

“Regardless of the belts, the feeling of winning will be amazing again, internally.”

Joshua has now missed both of his era’s elite heavyweight fights, against fellow Brit Fury and American KO king Deontay Wilder, for money and contracts.

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But he still hopes he can prove himself by finally bringing the 34-year-old Morecambe master into the ring, despite Fury insisting the ship has definitely sailed.

“I love doing business, good business and good contracts,” he said. “All that social media stuff is very time consuming.

“My dance partner, the last guy I was supposed to fight (Fury), is a good dance partner.

“He handles the social media side. I think we’d do a pretty good deal behind the scenes.”

“It will happen, we are in the same era.

“As well as two competitors, two fighters. He is definitely someone who is a fighting man.”

SunSport hopes Joshua’s steady comeback will lead to a third fight with Dillian Whyte, whom he beat in 2015 and lost in an amateur fight in 2009.

Following an April knockout loss to Fury, the 35-year-old Body Snatcher returns to the ring Nov. 26, on AJ’s DAZN broadcasters, suggesting the pair are once again on a collision course as Fury and Usyk plot an undisputed fight in March.

Joshua said: “If you look at the way I’ve run my business, I’ve never had to call anybody out or disrespect anybody to make a fight, or make it bigger.

“I have always run my business my way and in doing so I have won all the belts twice, as well as the WBC.

“I still have targets and goals to achieve but, so far, I feel like my strategy has been working.

“I like to fight good opponents and as important as being a champion is to me, I always wanted to fight the best of my era because there has been this stigma around selective selection.

“If you want to get to the top of boxing, you have to take risks, calculated risks.

“And it’s not how popular you are, it’s how good a fighter you are that makes you popular.”