{"id":790470,"date":"2026-10-03T08:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T08:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/790470\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T08:00:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T08:00:22","slug":"anthony-joshua-sets-record-straight-on-black-lives-matter-speech-ahead-of-seismic-tyson-fury-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/790470\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Joshua sets record straight on Black Lives Matter speech ahead of seismic Tyson Fury fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Joshua has defended his controversial speech at a Black Lives Matter rally, saying he read words written by someone else and realised their meaning only as he delivered them.<\/p>\n

The heavyweight boxer addressed the row as the build-up to his December 11 showdown with Tyson Fury gathered pace. <\/p>\n

Fury recently shared footage of Joshua speaking at a protest in Watford in June 2020, shortly after the death of George Floyd.<\/p>\n

In the speech, Joshua urged people to ‘abstain from spending your money in their shops’ and support black-owned businesses.<\/p>\n

He also called on the community to ‘inject the vaccine’ against racism.<\/p>\n

Joshua said the address had been taken out of context and acknowledged that it could sound as though he was advocating division.<\/p>\n

\u201cI read a speech that was written by somebody else and, as I was reading it, I was realising what I was saying,\u201d he told the Telegraph.<\/p>\n

Joshua said he joined the rally because he believed what happened to Floyd was wrong, adding that he had felt pressure to speak out. <\/p>\n

\"\\u200bAnthony<\/p>\n

Anthony Joshua has defended his controversial speech at a Black Lives Matter rally, saying he read words written by someone else and realised their meaning only as he delivered them<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

REUTERS<\/p>\n

He insisted the speech did not reflect a desire to set communities against one another.<\/p>\n

Fury had mocked his rival by captioning the video, ‘This is the man who loves England’, and pointed to Joshua\u2019s recent change of corporate address to Dubai.<\/p>\n

Joshua said he would not trade insults, describing Fury\u2019s comments as an attempt to get under his skin.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll be trying to get under my skin, 100 per cent,\u201d Joshua said. <\/p>\n

\"Anthony<\/p>\n

Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury will finally do battle this December<\/p>\n

| GETTY<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to be stoic and calm. It\u2019s nothing personal. I know what sort of person he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pair have 11 weeks until fight night, leaving plenty of time for more verbal sparring.<\/p>\n

Joshua has already questioned Fury\u2019s late enrolment in a voluntary anti-doping programme and mentioned his contact with Fury\u2019s estranged uncle and former trainer, Peter Fury.<\/p>\n

The fight is set to take place at Cardiff\u2019s Principality Stadium, after Joshua insisted the bout be staged in Britain. <\/p>\n

His promoter Eddie Hearn has said that decision will cost him more than \u00a310million in additional taxes.<\/p>\n

Joshua said he wanted to bring the contest home because he felt British boxing had not always received the respect it deserved in the United States.<\/p>\n

\"Anthony<\/p>\n

Anthony Joshua thinks Saudi boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh wants him to lose to Tyson Fury<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK has been a blessing to me,\u201d he said, adding that the fight had fuelled debates in ‘barbershops and family homes and in pubs’.<\/p>\n

The usually measured Joshua showed a sharper edge when asked whether Saudi boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh and his team wanted him to lose. <\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that, yeah,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

Joshua added: \u201cIf you f**k with me and you want to see me lose, I will f**k you up even more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Joshua has defended his controversial speech at a Black Lives Matter rally, saying he read words written…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[6565,2560,217,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-790470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-anthony-joshua","tag-boxing","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}