Anthony Joshua Details Mysterious Health Issue Before First Andy Ruiz Jr. Fight

Anthony Joshua has lifted the lid on what actually happened prior to his first fight with Andy Ruiz Jr. back in June.

Joshua regained his unified heavyweight titles following a unanimous decision victory over Ruiz in their rematch on Saturday. Of course, he lost his titles to the Mexican-American in the summer where he suffered a seventh-round TKO defeat.

Some of the rumors that came out afterward were that he had been knocked out in sparring leading up to the first fight while another was that he suffered a panic attack as well.

While he didn’t mention any of those, Joshua did touch on an issue with his health that he corrected prior to the rematch.

“I had some issue with my health which I was going through for a long time,” Joshua told BBC Radio 5 live (via The Mirror). “In the changing room before the fight I got a bucket of ice and was putting my head in it thinking ‘why do I feel so tired?’

After my check-ups it showed what the problem was and this is what you have to get sorted. Even in this camp I had an operation done but as I’d started training in June I had no issues.”

It certainly paid dividends as “AJ” put on a boxing clinic on Ruiz with a disciplined albeit conservative performance. Despite the criticism towards the actual fight, Joshua feels he has even more energy compared to his first fight with Ruiz:

“The responsibilities of being world champion are difficult,” he added. “All that stuff, feeling so tired, dealing with obligations. Now I have energy, I haven’t missed a session.”

What do you make of Joshua’s revelation?