When asked about his outburst following a loss in the ring last year, Louis Theroux became himself in a heated debate with boxer Anthony Joshua.
The two-time world heavyweight champion won gold for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics before going professional two years later.
The 34-year-old made an appearance on the second season premiere of Louis Theroux Interviews…, in which the presenter, 53, interviews prominent people about their successful jobs and personal lives.
While their conversation was full of lighthearted moments, one in particular saw the duo argue when Anthony, known as AJ, responded to a question he plainly didn’t enjoy.
AJ tossed the heavyweight belts out of the ring after losing his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia last year before going on a rampage on the microphone.
In it, AJ insisted he was a ‘new breed’ of heavyweight and appeared to insult legends like Mike Tyson and Sonny Liston, before launching into an expletive-filled speech in which he said he’d ‘trained my a** off’ and wasn’t a ‘f***ing amateur boxer’.
However, when Louis brought up this event, AJ didn’t appear to enjoy where the line of questioning proceeded.
‘It was like “these don’t even mean anything anyway” and because I don’t have them, they didn’t mean anything,’ he explained.
However, the boxer said at the time he felt like they ‘don’t even mean anything anyway’ and his ‘ego and pride’ were coming out.
In the chat, he said: ‘That was an ego and pride thing coming out. I brought this heavyweight division back – that was in me. Right or wrong, probably wrong.’
Jumping in Louis said: ‘Probably wrong, probably wrong, I think. I don’t think anyone says it was the right thing to do.’
Looking noticeably annoyed, AJ then clapped back and responded: ‘You asked me a question and I’m answering it.’
‘I’ve thrown them because that’s what I’ve felt like and grabbed the mic, I addressed the crowd. Could I have done it better? Of course I could have. But I had just finished a 12 round fight and I felt frustrated, annoyed. I knew I was out of the title race and then the questions started, “What is he like? Where is his head at?”.’
He continued: ‘All this “can he be three-time champion of the world?”. People create this narrative and put pressure on me. It’s too much. Gone are the days it was for the fun, when you’re just doing it for the passion, you’re a prospect.’
Following the filming of the documentary, Louis said that while AJ expressed himself with ‘self-help inklings’, he discovered he ‘emotionally naked’ person underneath.
‘I think there is a lot of vulnerability and a certain amount of pain. It just revolves around dialling that back and scraping away to find the more human qualities,’ he said during a recent Q & A for the programme.
Louis Theroux Interviews… continues on Tuesday at 9pm on BBC Two.
