THE FEAR INSIDE THE RING

There's a look that Anthony Joshua gets in his eyes each time he now steps inside the boxing ring which I recognise only too well. It's the look of a man desperately trying to prevent his anxiety demons from entering his mind and keeping them shut out, all the while he attends to the business inside the squared circle with his opponent. And it doesn't even really matter who his opponent is anymore as the biggest enemy for Joshua now is his own mind and the anxiety that threatens to wreak havoc on his fight plan. The fascination for the observer is to see how the British heavyweight overcomes this major factor far more than the fighter standing opposite.

This anxiety was especially evident last night as Joshua literally couldn't wait to climb out through the ropes after viciously knocking out the Norweigan, Robert Helenius, in the seventh round. It was as if to say: 'Alright, I've done what I needed to do here, now get me the hell out of this space!"

Psychologically the release of all that anxious tension and fear inside of the Watford-born fighter results in Joshua routinely going a bit weird in those strange moments after a fight when he more closely resembles Frankenstein's monster running rampage than the more typically positive, PR-managed figure we see on interviews and commercials. Now, you're never quite sure what he's going to say or do that may end up completely trashing his carefully designed slick corporate image. This dichotomy between the appearance of Joshua the brand and Joshua the human being is a compelling tug of war. I think most fans just want to see the real Joshua (which I assume there is) and discard the artificial one that is clearly 'fake news'.

But where does this anxiety come from for someone who has one of the best resumes in the current heavyweight division you may ask and it's a good question.

It was June 1st, 2019 when Joshua made his American debut fighting at Madison Square Garden, that one-time Mecca of boxing. Fighting against a chubby-looking Mexican, Andy Ruiz, Joshua looked most odd and ill at ease after entering the ring for the fight, toying nervously with his gum shield and with his eyes moving all around the place like darting minnows, seemingly unable to focus.

Although he started reasonably well in the fight and even manage to floor Ruiz in the fourth round, Joshua failed to capitalise effectively and got punished by Ruiz who recovered quickly from his knockdown and completely reversed the story of the fight leading to Joshua being defeated in the seventh round and becoming completely humiliated in front of the eyes of the on-looking crowd and the entire boxing world. This lion had suddenly been turned into a mouse and it remained an indelible image for both Joshua and his fans to shake off for many months afterwards.

Joshua did however recover some pride after defeating Ruiz in their re-match in Saudi Arabia but did so cautiously, boxing at a distance. It seemed for a moment as if he'd put the ghost of the 'garden' to bed but subsequent fights have proven otherwise, revealing he has yet to fully recover from that strange night in New York.

Last night, however, fighting against late replacement, Robert Helenius, he eventually dealt the killer blow to the 'Nordic Nightmare' Helenius, who, now a mature fighter with one eye on retirement looked more like a dream opponent for Joshua. Questions marks still remain about whether Joshua could cope with the considerably more dangerous elite fighters in the division such as Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder but my feeling is, as long as he can overcome his 'man in the mirror' syndrome his chance of an ultimate career redemption is still yet possible.

Only Joshua knows what power those anxiety gremlins have over him and until he eradicates them completely he'll remain vulnerable to those smelling blood in the water.