Anthony Joshua: Ronaldo only kicks a football around!
FT Desk
- Updated: 21 Sept 2021 12:29 BST
- 3 min read
Boxing champion Anthony Joshua appeared to cast shade on Cristiano Ronaldo by saying that the Man Utd superstar “is only kicking a football”.
WBA, IBF, WBO & IBO world heavyweight champions Joshua fights Ukraine’s Oleksandar Usyk on Saturday in a much-anticipated title fight at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
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Ahead of the fight, the 31-year-old spoke to Metro about how much longer he sees himself boxing for before retirement.
Joshua was asked about Ronaldo, who at the age of 36 is still playing at a world-class level for Man Utd after scoring four goals in his first three games since returning from Juventus.
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What did Anthony Joshua say about Ronaldo
“He’s only kicking a football, isn’t he?,” Joshua joked, before going on to hail the Portuguese forward.
“What a man. We always compare ourselves to the one in a billion: he’s one in a billion and we always seem to compare ourselves to that guy.
🗣 "He's only kicking a football, isn't he? What a man." #MUFC https://t.co/f4snO8J5bk
— Stretty News (@StrettyNews) September 21, 2021
“I can’t chase the Cristiano Ronaldo dream. Cristiano is one of the people I see asking for strength and courage. It comes with hardship but at the end of it is self-satisfaction.
“How long will I go on for? I think you’ve got between 36 and 40. So at 36 it’s kind of like, how many more years do you go beyond that? Do you do the full yard to 40?
“Forty seems like the age where it’s like, ‘okay, you’ve done this for a long time now’. So yeah, 36 to 40 is when I look at my career.”
Joshua has won 24 and lost one of his 25 career fights. He was meant to fight Tyson Fury earlier this year in a unification bout until talks collapsed.
Meanwhile, opponent Usyk has won all 18 of his but only recently moved up in weight from Cruiserweight.
