World boxing Heavyweight Champion, Anthony Joshua has revealed that he was sick with a bout of flu and got worried days to the fight with Alexander Povetkin to retain his IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles
He further explained that “It hit me last week Friday. I had it over the weekend and I thought by Wednesday it would be gone. But I only started feeling better on Friday.
“I’ve been ill this last week,” he said. “And you know when you start thinking to yourself ‘these signs are bad” Anthony Joshua had revealed.
“It was still there in my head, I had a head cold. I felt like a heavy gust of wind could knock me over. On my way to the stadium, I was thinking I can have one more sleep.”
“But I felt this way in training camp and still sparred 15 good rounds, so I’ve got one geezer in the ring who will fade sooner or later, so let’s just get on with it.”
The World Champion is still looking for an opponent for his April 13, 2019 date at Wembley – and Barry Hearn has warned Fury’s promoter Frank Warren that a 50-50 purse split is not acceptable.
A prospective all-British super-fight would be an intriguing and tantalising prospect to many, but Hearn, head of Joshua’s promoters Matchroom, responded furiously to an assertion from Warren on BBC 5 Live’s Sportsweek programme that the pair would share the proceeds of the big-money bout.
Fury is set to face WBC champion Wilder in the United States in December and it is widely assumed the winner will then open negotiations for a contest to unify the belts early next year.
Hearn, who watched Joshua dispatch Povetkin at Wembley on Saturday night, said: “It’s not a 50-50 split against the best heavyweight in the world – you can forget that completely.”