Anthony Joshua said watching Ilia Topuria lose to Justin Gaethje changed the way he thinks about access, distractions, and who belongs around a fighter during camp.
Joshua made the point in a long-form interview with Combat Evolved during preparation for his July 25 boxing return against Kristian Prenga. The former heavyweight champion was asked about his bigger goals, and he moved quickly from self-improvement to the kind of people he wants to keep away from camp.
“My dreams is like to improve as a fighter, stay injury-free, stay away from haters, people that don’t get what this sh*t’s about,” Joshua said. “I think you got to be in the fight game to truly know like it’s not lit. It’s not what people think it is. It’s not all fun and games. It’s a serious, serious, serious job, man.”
That is where Topuria entered the conversation. Joshua was referring to Topuria’s UFC Freedom 250 title loss to Gaethje, a fourth-round stoppage that ended Topuria’s unbeaten record and gave Gaethje the lightweight title.
“Stay away from people who just want to get lit and get upset when you don’t return calls and stuff,” Joshua said. “It’s not personal. It’s just I think that when I watched that Ilia Topuria fight and who was the other guy he fought, Justin Gaethje, when I watched that fight, I stopped replying to people after that because I said, yo, it’s not a joke.”
Joshua Says Topuria Looked Destined To Win
Joshua said the result stood out because he viewed Topuria as a fighter who seemed positioned to keep winning. Topuria entered the Gaethje fight with wins over former champions and the momentum of an unbeaten career.
“I saw someone in Ilia who was destined to win,” Joshua said. “The stars were aligned for him to be victorious. I think Ilia had beat people that Justin had lost against. You know, the odds were in his favor.”
Joshua also pointed to Topuria’s confidence before the fight, while making clear he was not criticizing Topuria for carrying himself that way.
“He was like Ilia, not that it was a bad thing, but I saw him celebrating before,” Joshua said. “He’s entitled to do what he wants, but I just took something from it and I said, ‘Get back to being uncontactable, less accessible because the fight game is so serious.'”
The loss also stayed with Joshua because of the visible damage Topuria absorbed. Merab Dvalishvili later said Topuria was dealing with badly compromised vision after the fight, and Joshua used the same image to explain why he tightened his focus.
“Like, you saw his face, like what he went through,” Joshua said. “It’s not a joke, man. It’s not a joke.”
The Lesson Was About Access
Joshua did not frame the Topuria fight as a technical breakdown. His takeaway was about the seriousness of fighting and the cost of letting outside noise take energy from preparation.
“What do I want?” Joshua said. “I want to improve. I want to stay away from people that don’t really get what this fight game’s about. I think it’s just lit. I want to be there for the bright lights and the entertainment.”
“I want to create a little army of soldiers who love fighting,” Joshua said. “All my friends will be fighting mentality. You know what I mean? I don’t want people around that my friends over here for partying, my friends over here for this. My army is fight-focused.”
Joshua’s next fight is part of a larger heavyweight plan. He is scheduled to face Prenga before a possible late-2026 Tyson Fury fight, and he has also kept public interest in combat-sports crossover talk alive. This time, though, the message was narrower: after watching Topuria lose a fight Joshua thought was set up for him, Joshua wants fewer distractions and a camp built around people who understand the risk.
Gaethje’s win has kept shaping the UFC lightweight picture as well. Gaethje said his previous losses never ended his title belief, while Topuria has had to absorb the first defeat of his professional career.
