Anthony Joshua may turn down the big-money offers to stay amateur after the Olympics.
Brit in no rush to turn professional after the London Games
Team GB super-heavyweight hopeful Anthony Joshua is contemplating turning down money-spinning offers from promoters to stay amateur after the Olympics.
The Londoner is strongly fancied to win gold in his home city at this summer's Games and reportedly snubbed a £50,000 offer to enter the punch-for-pay ranks two years ago.
Joshua, 22, is considered one of the best amateur super-heavyweights in the world after he reached last year's amateur World Championships final, only to be out-pointed by the local hero in Azerbaijan. It has been an incredibly fast progression for Joshua, who first walked into a boxing gym less than four years ago and is now on the wanted list for British and American promoters.
If Joshua strikes gold at the ExCeL Arena in Docklands in the super-heavyweight final, he can expect professional promoters fighting over his signature with offers expected to be over £1million.
But the likeable 6ft 6in boxer, who weighs over 14 stones, claims he is prepared to wait before entering the professional ranks.
"I really want to become an Olympic champion and amateur world champion," he told Punchlines. "There's no rush to turn pro because I've been watching Guillermo Rigondeaux, the Cuban who won two Olympic gold medals and is now a world champion but didn't turn professional until he was 28.
"The pro career is always there but once you leave amateurs there's no turning back. There's no rush to turn pro. I want to get the most out of my amateur career before turning professional."
Joshua learnt to box at the same Finchley gym where heavyweight Dereck Chisora trains and has also sparred with the former world title challenger.
And AJ expects Chisora to take bitter rival Haye the distance in their controversial heavyweight showdown at Upton Park on July 14.
"I've had a few rounds with Dereck Chisora," he told Punchlines. "I've been down the gym to see him preparing for Haye. He's tough and he's going to give Haye a lot problems.
"I think it might go the distance they are both tough guys and they are not going to want to stay on the canvas.
"He just needs to keep on learning like me, and like any great fighter you don't stop learning until you retire."
Quick hits
Matthew Hall is looking forward to what he describes as the biggest night of his career at Upton Park on July 14, but counts himself lucky to still be alive.
Former Commonwealth champion Hall, 27, lost a split points decision Sam Webb British light-middleweight title final eliminator in April and hopes to get his career back on track when he faces German Jack Culcay for the vacant WBA international title next month.
But the Manchester boxer admits his career was nearly finished by two separate incidents that left him with horrific stab wounds.
"I've been stabbed twice in 2003 and 2006," Hall told Punchlines. "The first time was when I was 19. My bowel was perforated six times and I lost five or six litres of blood. It was touch and go whether I needed a colostomy bag for life. Then I got stabbed again when I was 21 in my chest, but it wasn't so bad. They were both just a case of being wrong place, wrong time and a bit of gang thing.
"The stabbings were a real test of character. People didn't know whether I would come back from it. It took a year out of my career the first time. But I tried to take the positives out
