Now, he says that he did not actually write the speech himself.
“I think people took it in the wrong context,” Joshua explains. “It could come across as light versus dark and I was presented in a dark fashion, basically saying ‘divide people’.
“At the time, in the park, I definitely thought what happened to George Floyd was wrong. I joined the rally and, at the time, a lot was expected of me. I read a speech that was written by somebody else and, as I was reading it, I was realising what I was saying.”
Fury captioned the video with the sarcastic words “This is the man who loves England”, and then pointed out that Joshua recently changed his corporate address to the tax haven of Dubai.
Before a fight that has been subtitled “The Battle of Britain”, such attacks carry a certain resonance. Yet Joshua insists that he will not be responding in kind. Or, at least, that he maintains a higher moral standard.
“A lot of these things are used to try to demonise your character, to a degree,” he muses. “And in boxing it’s an open playing field, you can do and say whatever you want. He is able to and I could do the same to him. But he just chose to go as low as that. So be it. I will take it with a pinch of salt.
“He’ll be trying to get under my skin, 100 per cent. I need to be stoic and calm. It’s nothing personal. I know what sort of person he is. It doesn’t matter what he says. I won’t be friendly because he’s friendly or rude because he’s rude. I will be stoic in my approach because I know that this is a fight.”