![\"Reuters](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/bc43\/live\/e6a73b20-2fff-11ef-97a3-b9fc9fdbba57.jpg.webp\")
Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nBritish heavyweight Anthony Joshua says it would not be a “wise decision” for his son to follow in his footsteps and become a professional boxer.<\/p>\n The two-time former unified world heavyweight champion told BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs<\/a> he would much prefer if his son Joseph Joshua, known as JJ, became an accountant instead, though he added that he wanted him to carve out his own future.<\/p>\n Joshua also spoke to host Lauren Laverne about how he got into trouble with the police for fighting when he was a teenager living in Watford and how he became homeless aged 17.<\/p>\n Reflecting on his career in boxing, Joshua said he found the sport at a time he needed it most. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n He told Desert Island Discs: “I\u2019d usually sit outside the estate and just have a cigarette. Then I started getting in trouble… I just wanted to make money, that was my goal,” he told the programme.<\/p>\n \u201cI was constantly getting in trouble.”<\/p>\n Joshua first entered the ring aged 18 when his cousin suggested he take up the sport, which he said became helpful to “channel my energy”. <\/p>\n Five years later, Joshua became a household name when he picked up gold at the London 2012 Olympics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A year later, Joshua decided to turn pro – the breakout moment for him coming at age 27, when he met the Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko in April 2017.<\/p>\n In a sold out Wembley Stadium, roared on by a crowd of 90,000, AJ – as he is known to his fans – floored the 41-year old two-time world champion in the 11th round in one of the most gruelling but entertaining heavyweight contests.<\/p>\n Later, he said the victory over Klitschko changed his career.<\/p>\n AJ won all of his first 22 professional bouts, 21 of them inside the distance, to establish himself as the most renowned knockout artist of his generation.<\/p>\n But the low point in the boxer\u2019s career came in 2022, when he failed to recapture the unified WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight titles<\/a> from his nemesis, Ukraine\u2019s Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n As he tried to come to terms with the loss, Joshua at first denied it had a profound effect on him.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t feel anything,\u201d he had said after Usyk defeated him in a spectacular rematch, before throwing two championship belts from the ring.<\/p>\n But at a post-fight press conference, Joshua was apologetic, choked back tears and held his head in his hands, saying the defeat \u201ctore him apart\u201d.<\/p>\n Speaking to Desert Island Discs, he said he has broken down over losing – adding that one time he went into a “dark room” for five days where he could not talk to anyone in order to “heal from the inside mentally”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Joshua said it was around this time that he realised he needed to have “more meaningful conversations” with his family.<\/p>\n Beyond the world of boxing, AJ is known to be a fiercely private man for whom loyalty to family is of paramount importance.<\/p>\n He grew up as one of seven children living between his mum’s house and his dad’s place.<\/p>\n In various interviews he spoke fondly about his mother Yeta Odusanya, and his son, JJ.<\/p>\n Soon after his career took off, he bought a place for his mum to live in.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you step up as a man in the house, freedom is making sure your parents are taken care of as well,” he told the BBC.<\/p>\n “For me, that\u2019s freedom knowing that no matter where I am in the world, my mum\u2019s happy, she\u2019s taken care of.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Joshua says he has “always kept boxing out” away from his family, adding that he is a father and son first.<\/p>\n Would he like his son to enter the ring?<\/p>\n He has previously said he did not envisage that life for his “little JJ”, wanting his son to be the “best man that he can be” instead. <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"BBC](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/f9ee\/live\/ade01140-3004-11ef-97a3-b9fc9fdbba57.jpg.webp\")
BBC Radio 4\/BBC Sounds<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"PA](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/283f\/live\/0924e1c0-3000-11ef-97a3-b9fc9fdbba57.jpg.webp\")
PA<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n