Reigning WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight world champ was only on the pads for a matter of minutes at the event at York Hall
ANTHONY JOSHUA put the finishing touches on the hardest camp of his life then admitted – maybe I'm TIRED.
The WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight king was put through his paces in front of hundreds of his loyal fans at Bethnal Green's iconic York Hall.
But really the hard yards have been done over the past 12 weeks in what promoter Eddie Hearn has described as the most gruelling camp of AJ's career to date.
After his shake-out in London, the 6ft 6in puncher will now put his feet up over the next few days as he prepares for the 'pressure cooker' of Wembley Stadium on Saturday when he defends his WBA, WBO IBF and IBO titles against Russian Alexander Povetkin.
And Joshua admitted he has had to push himself to new limits in preparation for arguably his most difficult opponent yet.
After only a few minutes on the pads at York Hall, he said: “Maybe I'm just tired.
“I've done hundreds of rounds of sparring, thrown thousands of punches and had thousands of punches thrown back at me.
“This is the business end now so I'm locked in.
“I don't really control the rounds I'm doing or who I'm sparring I just do what coach tells me.
“I just have to go through it mentally and on the days I didn't want to do it I have to just push myself.”
Hearn also revealed there has been no expense spared when hiring the best sparring partners on the market.
And they all want to make a name for themselves by landing one on the heavyweight champion of the world.
Hearn said: “We've brought sparring in for this camp who have really stuck it on him - but that means he's ready.
“No camp is ever easy when you're 18st and sparring 12 or 15 rounds at a time.
“But based on what I've seen – this is the hardest camp of his career.
“All the hard work is done so maybe he will have a few nice walks, a couple of pad sessions to keep fresh but it's about getting ready for the pressure cooker.
“There will be 80,000 people in the national stadium with everyone tuning in. The country shuts down when he fights.
“All the pressure is on AJ because people are talking about what's next when the only thing that matters is right now.”
