Former cruiserweight world champion, Tony Bellew, has revealed the words exchanged with Anthony Joshua after his comeback performance against Jermaine Franklin.
‘AJ’ won the contest by a comfortable unanimous decision, giving the Brit his first win since 2020. However, fans and even Joshua himself were hoping for an emphatic stoppage that would make the rest of the division take notice.
In an interview with DAZN, Bellew, who was involved in a ringside altercation following the conclusion of the fight, spoke about what the 33-year-old asked him immediately after the fight.
“I was speaking to him in the changing rooms afterwards and he was like ‘Tony, what do you think about this? What do you think about that?’, and I said, ‘I could see that he countered you in the fourth round with a right-hand, and it just made you think twice’.
He said, ‘You know what, he is a sneaky counter-puncher’ and I said, ‘yeah he is, especially when you don’t see it coming’.”
“We talk quite a bit and we back-and-forth on each other’s opinions but overall, he is disappointed, there is no two ways about it, of course he is disappointed. But I’m definitely sure that he is happy, he still got twelve rounds in, under a new trainer, it is going to take time to build up a level of trust between the two of them.”
Whilst Joshua is back in the winning column, the display won’t have other heavyweights running scared, which perhaps opens up more opportunities for him.
It seems as if Dillian Whyte is in pole position to be Joshua’s next opponent, completing a trilogy between the pair that spans over both their amateur and professional careers.