Moments after defeating Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley the other week, Anthony Joshua nearly ended up in a scrap with the Ukranian’s big brother, Vitali.
Joshua recovered from the first knockdown of his professional career to stop Klitschko in the eleventh round of a quite brilliant fight.
According to promoter Eddie Hearn, Joshua ‘nearly came to blows’ with Vitali, who retired from the sport four years ago, while he attempted to console Wladimir after the fight had ended.
“He [Joshua] will learn [from the fight],” Hearn told Boxing News.
“There were little things, in the ring before the fight Vitali was staring at him, then he started staring at Vitali and all that’s designed to do is use up energy.”
The promoter continued:
“You’re just using up emotions and he’ll learn from that…. He and Vitali nearly came to blows after the fight.
“He went over to Wladimir and thanked him and Josh was tired and he went on and on, talking about the fight, and Vitali was like ‘alright, alright.’” At this point, Hearn gestured to show that Vitali had tried to push Joshua away.
“Josh was like ‘f*** you,’” Hearn continued. “But Vitali can handle himself, he’s not exactly a pushover.”
Something tells us this exchange probably won’t be enough to tempt Vitali out of retirement to avenge his brother’s defeat…
Bring on the rematch.
