Anthony Joshua insists his legacy has not been threatened by the controversial decision to take his rematch against Andy Ruiz to Saudi Arabia.
Amnesty International have previously warned that Joshua has been drawn into a ‘sportswashing’ exercise for the regime and its human rights abuses.
But Joshua, who stands to earn in the region of £60million for Saturday’s world-title fight, has made a questionable defence of the morality of choosing Diriyah on the outskirts of Riyadh for the bout.
‘I just came here for the boxing opportunity, and I feel like taking boxing global is what a world champion or challenger should be doing because you fight around the world,’ he told the BBC.
‘I look around and everyone seems pretty happy and chilled. I’ve not seen anyone in a negative light out here, everyone seems to be having a good time.’
Asked directly about Amnesty’s belief that Joshua could use his position to speak out about against the regime, which oversaw 149 executions last year and is accused of ‘worsening oppression’ of local freedoms in recent days.
Joshua said: ‘I haven’t known much about Amnesty because I’ve spent most of my time in Finchley just training – there’s issues in Finchley, you know.
‘But just me as an individual, I try and bring positivity and light everywhere I go, so I’m just seeing it from my eyes alone, but for sure the country in itself is trying to do a good job politically.
‘But for the sporting side of things, I just feel I’ve got a fight to focus on – for the future maybe I can bear a different kind of flag, but at the minute it’s just the world championship flag that I’m trying to bear.’
When it was put to Joshua that he might be used for ‘sportswashing’, the former IBF, WBA and WBO champion said: ‘If that was the case I’d definitely have to say I would be bothered, but my only focus is just the boxing, so it’s just like me coming from Watford, just being told I’m fighting in Saudi Arabia, it’s like, “All right, let’s rock and roll”. That’s how I looked at it. We looked at all different venues, but this was the one – I just want to do a job.’
