Anthony Joshua has revealed the ring fans thought was a wedding band was simply a fitness tracker to help monitor his sleep.
The two-time world heavyweight champion will face Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night in Saudi Arabia, and after suffering a comprehensive defeat last time out, has pulled out all the stops in training camp. He switched his head coach from Rob McCracken to Robert Garcia and moved his training camp from Sheffield to London in an effort to change every detail.
And ahead of the rematch, he started wearing what looked like a wedding band on his ring finger, which fans spotted in a number of social media posts and appearances. But he has now confirmed it is no more than a sleep tracker, and that he is still "married to the game".
"I'm divorced," Joshua joked in an interview with Behind The Gloves. "I lost the wedding band - no, it's a sleep ring, it tracks your sleep. Don't worry girl, I'm not married - it's cool. That's the whole point of social media [to get people talking], but I am married to the game for life. It'll take a lot in a woman to lock me down."
Joshua heads into battle with Usyk this weekend as a hefty underdog for one of the first times in his career after the Ukrainian comfortably beat him on points last time out. But he insists that he is going to turn it around in the rematch, and continue on his path to the undisputed heavyweight title.
To become undisputed, whoever is to win on Saturday night is theoretically just two fights away from holding all of the belts. The Ring Magazine have put their belt on the line between Usyk and Joshua after Tyson Fury reiterated his claim during the week that he is retired, and the WBC will soon decide where their world title goes.
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The Usyk vs Joshua rematch will be contested for all of the other belts, including the three major titles; WBA (super), IBF and WBO, as well as the less coveted IBO strap. The Brit has never lost twice consecutively, and comfortably won his last rematch in Saudi Arabia after he was beaten by Andy Ruiz Jr in 2019.
But he faces one of the toughest tests in the sport on Saturday night in Usyk, who has never lost and is a former undisputed cruiserweight champion. The Ukrainian spent most of his professional career after winning Olympic gold at the London 2012 games going through the 200lb division and picking up all the belts individually.
He now has a chance to do what nobody has done before and repeat that feat at heavyweight. Only David Haye and Evander Holyfield ever moved up and won belts at heavyweight after doing the same at cruiserweight, and they were never undisputed in both divisions.
