Joshua branded 'petty' over released sparring footage, confronting students

British boxer Joe Joyce is fuming after footage was released by Nigeria-born former heavy-weight Anthony Joshua.

The sparring footage shows both fighters wearing gloves and headgear for a friendly competitive fight.

However, Joyce has responded to rumours that AJ had edited the footage in a way that makes him look more favourable over the juggernaut.

The footage was edited to make Joshua look superior in their sparring battle, and Joyce was certainly not happy with how the footage came out.

He has insisted that they were focusing on perfecting specific techniques during their session.

With the footage being a hot topic for the pair, talking to the iFL, Joyce said: “He hasn’t looked that good for a while.

“It was a very biased sparring video of him looking good.

“He hasn’t looked that good for a while. There’s a lot of footage over the years – four or five years plus of sparring footage.

 “There’s him leading up to the Olympics, there’s post-Olympics when he’s turned pro and I’m leading up to my Olympics in Rio and depending on what stage of the camp were in, sometimes on what stage of the camp we’re in.

“Sometimes I’m punching him up, sometimes he’s punching me up but its equal sparring, 50-50 sparring, people would pay to watch.”

Joyce was eager to fight AJ. He had offered to fight the fellow Britishman; Joshua wasn’t so impressed by his offer as he referenced his first-round stoppage of Joyce in the amateurs.

The pair went on to social media, exchanging tweets about their feud.

Joshua tweeted: “I boxed Joe and stopped him in 1 round. I’d do the same thing today! Ain’t nothing changed.”

Joyce responded: “And @anthonyjoshua you having a meltdown, where’s all your belts? All those sponsorships and endorsements helping? You’re a glass cannon, quit the act, you were given everything.”

The sparring footage was then released after Joyce’s comments toward Joshua. The damage was done, and when asked in an interview whether he thought AJ had released the video, Joyce said:

“Someone has handpicked sparring. Mentally where Joshua’s at, he’s being a bit petty if he did have anything to do with it, to leak sparring footage like that where it’s like that and bringing up the fight ten years ago when he beat me in a round when the odds were stacked against me but I’ve come a long way since.

“I think he just likes being the big man, the landlord, and that. Where I’m getting up and there and being a threat to him, It’s like ego.”

Joyce also believed Joshua’s ‘heads gone’ and he didn’t need to confront heckling university students a few weeks ago.

Joshua was insulted by some Loughborough University students as he walked past their residence and the 32-year-old decided to confront them. 

 “When your jaws start breaking and people start chasing you out of this university , none of you will like it,” Joshua is seen telling the students in a video of the boxing star giving them a talking to in their own flat.

“Watch your mouths because you don’t know who you’re talking to sometimes. I know, listen, all that public eye bulls***, I ain’t into all that.”

Joshua was widely commended for his actions, with praise for giving the students ‘a life lesson’, while Derek Chisora said he would have ‘done much worse’ if he was abused.

However, Joyce believes Joshua is losing it mentally with an anticipated rematch with Oleksandr Usyk looming this summer, which is expected for August 20 in Saudi Arabia.

“He waffles this talk where it sounds very philosophical and stuff, but it feels really scripted, but when he breaks character like that you know something is going on,” Joyce told iFL TV. 

“That’s why I say his head is a bit gone. He’s biting.

 “Even talking to those uni kids, it should be water off a duck’s back, it shouldn’t affect him.

“But him having to go there and intimidate them and stuff, it’s not really needed, is it?”

Opinions have been divided on Joshua’s actions against the students. talkSPORT’s Simon Jordan said he believed AJ was entitled to some respect.

“Anthony Joshua gave them a life lesson,” said the White and Jordan host.

AJ has been training on Loughborough’s campus as he prepares to face Usyk for a second time. He has enlisted the help of Robert Garcia as his new head coach and Angel Fernandez has been promoted in his team, as well.