The 96,000 at Wembley expect to see history but I thrive under that pressure

WHEN I first laced up my boxing gloves, if someone had told me I’d fill out Wembley Stadium with 96,000 people, I would have laughed them off.

- Anthony joshua

But strange as it would seem back as my teenage self, this has become normal to me — be that selling out a massive stadium or starring in a Guy Ritchie movie, albeit a short one to promote Saturday’s fight.

As a kid, I wasn’t always comfortable with the spotlight — who is? — but I thrive on it now, the lights on me, people chanting my name, knowing that millions around the world are tuning in to watch.

People want to see history in the making as I try to join the likes of Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis and Vitali Klitschko as a threetime world heavyweight champion.

To be spoken of in the same sentence as those greats of this wonderful sport makes all the hard work worth it.

And the expectation from nearly 100,000 people is huge. They expect me to win and they expect me to put on a show but none of that can exceed the expectation that I put upon myself.