Anthony Joshua once walked out of a jail cell and went straight to get knocked out by David Price during a training session.
Before becoming the global boxing superstar he is recognized today, AJ was a fresh-faced amateur learning the ropes of the sport.
Ahead of his world title unification fight against Joseph Parker in 2018, Joshua revealed details of the Price KO which happened behind closed doors and saw him needing help to get back on his feet.
The revelation came after Parker’s team accused the champion of having “a glass jaw”, which Price revealed.
But according to AJ himself, the day leading up to the knockout was way too surreal for his liking.
“I think I was doing Thursday through Sunday because I was on a development course,” he said after the press conference with Parker. “I got bitten on the way to training camp, for trouble.
“I went out on Saturday and went up there. I arrived by the station. I think that he [Price] was very good at the time, very strong. And I made too many mistakes.
“Those circumstances don’t help when you’re fighting an elite fighter.”
He added: “I took the train because they took my car. [I made the effort] Just to show commitment and jump right into the fight.
To spark potential interest in a fight between the two British boxers that ultimately never happened, Price first told the story in 2016 shortly after Joshua defeated Charles Martin to win the IBF title. heavy weights.
“It’s probably the worst kept secret in boxing and it’s something I’ve never really talked about or mentioned,” Price told Sky at the time.
“When it happened Joshua was an amateur in the British team and I was a rookie pro and I kept him to myself because he was a promising potential boxer. I wanted to protect him from that, I don’t didn’t want to brag about that.
“But our positions have changed and he is the heavyweight champion of the world. I’m someone who would definitely be interested in giving it a shot, and I thought now was the time to pull the cat out of the bag and let people know.
“It’s possible that Anthony Joshua will be injured and beaten. What I’m talking about happened a long time ago, but it’s still the same two people.
When asked if he had knocked out Joshua, Price replied: “100% yes. If it was a fight, he would have been stopped immediately. Not asleep, but on his stomach and out of the ring. by his coaches.
“It doesn’t seem to have affected him much because he did some good things. He won a world silver medal a few months later.
In 2019, Joshua was knocked out for the first time as a professional as Andy Ruiz Jr stopped the Briton in stunning fashion at Madison Square Garden.
Six months later, however, he reclaimed the belts by beating the Mexican-American.
In 2021, AJ suffered the second defeat of his professional career when he was beaten on points by Oleksandr Usyk.
Now he’s set for a rematch with the Ukrainian on Saturday night, live on talkSPORT, and hopes to regain his belts once again.
As Price and Ruiz have shown, he has weaknesses that Usyk will no doubt look to take advantage of.