Former world heavyweight boxing champion, Anthony Joshua has revealed that he had to resort to praying regularly in order to overcome distractions that affected his career.
Sports247 gathered that the Nigerian-born boxer, who returns to the roped squad on Friday night for the first time since losing to Daniel Dubois in 2024, is happy that he was able to get over the setback.
Read Also: Former World Champion Lawrence Okolie Opens Up Decision To Fight In Nigeria | Sports247 Nigeria
Although many boxing buffs have criticized his decision to accept a fight offer from American social media influencer, Jake Paul, Joshua inted that it is part of his process of recovery in a career that plummeted towards termination point.
He also revealed that watching a play back of another former champion, Mike Tyson’s mentor speaking to the once fearsome retired boxer stirred something in him and he suddenly realized that he had lost focus.
In an interview with Daily Mail Sport, the former two-time unified heavyweight champ spoke candidly about how boxing stopped being the sole focus for him.
Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua further opened up about where everything went wrong for him, the pain he carried, how he learnt to deal with defeat and the impact prayers have played in helping him get back on track.
“’I went off track for a few years. I was doing a lot of stuff outside of boxing. I was recently watching a Mike Tyson video and Cus D’Amato goes ‘your mind’s not on your work, something is distracting you.’
“That’s when I shut down all the businesses. I said I am devoting myself to the fight game again. My mind was just filled with pain and now I’m just wanting to win. I’ve just put my mind fully back in boxing.
“The biggest change, it’s prayer. I’ve been praying a lot more. Whether you call that visualisation affirmations or praying, it’s self-talk, expressing what you want out of life and so on.
“The body can only do what the mind thinks. So, now that I feel positive through prayer and thoughts, I’ve definitely improved my skill set,” the London 2012 Olympic Games gold medalist affirmed.
