ANTHONY JOSHUA has been blasted as a ‘hypocrite’ by former rival Jarrell Miller after he criticised Tyson Fury’s hit-and-move tactics against Wladimir Klitschko… the same gameplan he used against Andy Ruiz Jr.
AJ regained his world title belts that he lost in June with a polished and masterful display of boxing in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.
However, his performance left many fans unimpressed by his cautious, albeit effective strategy and said the Watford-born star was “running away”.
And it appears that at one time Joshua agreed with such a verdict, after he heavily criticised Fury’s ‘hit-and-move’ tactics to dethrone Klitschko with a unanimous points victory in 2015.
In the 2017 video: “As I always said, if I’m the king of Dubai in the olden days and a different empire comes to take my territory.
“You don’t come and steal my treasure, that’s what Fury did, I think. He stole the belts from Klitschko in the sense he just boxed and moved.
“I know it’s the “art of boxing” but I always said that you come to sleigh the king, you look him in his face and take what’s his.”
I know it’s the “art of boxing” but I always said that you come to sleigh the king, you look him in his face and take what’s his
Anthony Joshua in 2017
Miller, who was scheduled to fight Joshua ahead of Ruiz Jr in June before testing positive for banned substances, hit back on his Instagram page.
Alongside a clip of AJ’s interview on Fury, ‘Big Baby’ wrote: “If Applejacks and @eddiehearn ain’t the biggest hypocrites in boxing I guest there no such thing as Hell (sic).
“This mofo RAN LIKE B****** lmfao. One of the many bipolar interviews from the sweet and low DUO F*** boy DON’T RUN.”
Despite earning a reputation as a knockout artist before this year, Joshua opted for a more pragmatic approach against the heavy-hitting Ruiz in Saudi after being dropped four times in June.
Yet his original comments on adopting such tactics were echoed by rival Deontay Wilder, who said he could never do the ‘Klitschko method’.
The Bronze Bomber told The Athletic: “Joshua did what he had to do to get the win. He ran around the ring and was on his bike all day,
“Basically, he had Klitschko in the camp and he was a lot like Klitschko. That jab-grab-hold method. That’s all he did tonight.
“You want to dominate guys, man. Maybe I’m just too rough, too hard-core and too much of a dream for this time and era, maybe the world wants that nice s***.
I can knock people out when I want to, and I can box when I want to. Hit and don’t get hit, that’s the name of the game
Anthony Joshua in 2019
“My mentality is so different from these other fighters.
“But when I think of myself as a champion, you want to come out there and whoop his ass.
“I’m not coming in, after losing to this guy, to just dance and grab and jab and hold.
“I’m going to show the world and convince them I am the very best and that no one is close to me.”
Joshua himself addressed questions about his new style after reclaiming his IBF, WBA and WBO world titles in Saudi Arabia.
He said: “I can knock people out when I want to, and I can box when I want to. Tonight was just about winning and trusting my process.
“I know maybe I could have done more at times, but sometimes simplicity is genius, and that was the motto: keep it simple, ‘cause it’s going to lead to a genius performance. I was outclassing the current champion.”
“I just took it back to the old school, 70s style, boxing sweet science. Hit and don’t get hit, that’s the name of the game.”
