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Land Rover Magazine Issue 39

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Icelandic surfing, enabled by the new Land Rover Defender | Artisanal globe-making in London with Bellerby & Co | Gallery of stunning drone photography | Author Helen Russell explores the meaning of happiness | Exclusive short story by Jean Macneil

HARDER BETTER FASTER

HARDER BETTER FASTER STRONGER The return of Anthony Joshua Interview by James Brown You can tell more about a boxer in unexpected defeat than in victory. Anthony Joshua, then heavyweight champion of the world, was stopped in the seventh round by Andy Ruiz Jr in New York in June 2019. It was a surprise defeat, but the British fighter seems to have no room for regrets. There’s no bluster or blame. Joshua isn’t sombre about the fight, almost laughing when he discusses being knocked to his knees. He is, above all, a realist. Joshua has had to make comebacks before. In 2009 he was imprisoned on remand for getting into fights. In 2011 he was suspended from the British Olympic boxing squad after getting into trouble with the law. But he put all that behind him to take an Olympic gold in London in 2012. When we speak, Joshua – whose mother is Nigerian and father of Nigerian and Irish ancestry – has just returned from a trip to Nigeria, having eschewed the usual summer luxury beach holiday for a more grounded experience. And it’s clearly changed him. Mike Tyson once said, “You never lose until you actually give up.” And AJ isn’t giving up. Not by a long way yet. You’ve never claimed to be unbeatable, acknowledging that defeats are part of a fighter’s journey. Had you prepared yourself for a high stakes defeat? Always. No one teaches you how to deal with failure. We’ve always got to look forward but I always made sure I had eyes in the back of my head. Even though I’m always looking for the win, I prepare for the worst and the best, so I’ve got that buffer behind me in case I do fall. How did your preparations compare to the reality? You do prepare for it but you don’t expect it. The landscape of the industry is not the same as when I started in 2008, and my priorities have changed with it. I’m at the top level now, so the question is, “Have I done enough?” People identify me as a champion now, so they expect me to go out at my next fight and become champion. There’s none of this “Two, three years, let’s rebuild.” If you win the belts back, what’s motivating you from that point on? What’s motivating me now is two things. One is self improvement and not becoming stagnant. You need new tasks in life to reboot your system. The second one is to remember I don’t fight for just myself and my family. I fight for poor people, people who are struggling. I’m expected to go on holiday to Dubai or the Maldives and sit in a resort so you don’t see that stuff, but in Nigeria I went to the ghettoes. These people might not have internet but they know Anthony Joshua, and it’s, like, “Fight for us, help us. If you don’t wanna fight, fight for us.” My fight hopefully is gonna take a new stance, that it’s not about my ego or fulfilling anyone’s ego. This is a fight for people who are in poverty, because I wanna start giving back. Sometimes people in power forget 39

 

Land Rover

Land Rover Magazine 39

 

Land Rover Magazine showcases stories from around the world that celebrate inner strength and the drive to go above and beyond

Land Rover stands for not only the most capable premium vehicles, but a state of mind where a sense of curiosity, exploration and wonder informs all of life’s adventures. Encounter this throughout the latest issue of Land Rover Magazine, from meeting a herd of Ice Age survivors on the Dutch coast with the Land Rover Discovery, to the most innovative sustainable architecture on a Californian journey with the Range Rover Evoque

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