Thursday 13 April 2017 10:54, UK
Johnny Nelson dropped in to see Anthony Joshua in Sheffield and could not believe how calm and relaxed the British heavyweight star was...
If you're not from that area, you get bored, so when I knew he was there I popped in.
I took him a Muhammad Ali memorial local Louisville paper, not only to read in case he has nothing to do, but also because what else do you give a heavyweight world champion?
I have seen Joshua this close to plenty of his fights and spent time with plenty of other fighters, but I have never seen him - or many of them - so chilled, so calm.
I hope he liked the present but he did look happy to see me, I think, just because it was a different face. I know Sheffield and I know what it's like when a fight is coming.
Joshua was having a massage when I got there and we had a quick chat about what I saw out in Wladimir Klitchko's camp out in Austria - but that was more out of intrigue than anything he needed to know.
He asked a few general questions but he looked so relaxed, none of it seemed to matter.
I have seen Joshua this close to plenty of his fights and spent time with plenty of other fighters, but I have never seen him, or many of them, so chilled, so calm.
He knows what Klitschko has been saying on Twitter and stuff like that but he doesn't seem bothered by it in the slightest. I think Wladimir has tried to wind him up and has been a bit catty, but I just can't see it doing anything to AJ.
He is stuck in the National Institute of Sport and there isn't much to do, so you could understand if he was getting a little ratty or edgy.
It did surprise me, though, I have to be honest. The last time I saw a fighter this calm in the build-up, it was Naseem Hamed. He was so relaxed too, so comfortable. He was in complete control and then all of a sudden he would just flick a switch and that was it, he was in fight mode.
The only time I ever saw Naz get nervous was before the Kevin Kelley fight at Madison Square Garden.
We were driving through Times Square and he saw the giant billboard with his face on it and he just turned round and said 'I'm nervous'. But that was that.
I just think Joshua has the same mind-set. Yes, fight week is different but I don't think that will change anything.
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