Eddie Hearn wants his star fighter Anthony Joshua to to “snap out of” the negative mindset he’s had ahead of his rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr.

Joshua has recently admitted to feeling disillusioned with the sport of boxing as he prepares to face his rival Ruiz in Saudi Arabia this December. The British star left the world shocked when he lost his WBA, WBO and IBF world heavyweight titles in his first fight against Ruiz, which went down at Madison Square Garden earlier this year.

During an interview with BBC and Sky Sports, Anthony Joshua admitted lacking passion.

In response, his promoter Eddie Hearn gave some tough advice:

“I think he’s just got to snap out of it,” Hearn said during an interview with The Independent. “I think he was disillusioned with the sport because he wanted to fight Deontay Wilder. He couldn’t get that fight and as he said in the interview, he didn’t really want to fight Andy Ruiz. But tough, you fought him and you fought a real hungry guy.”

“He ain’t going to be giving Ruiz no belts to hold because he doesn’t have them anymore.”

Eddie Hearn also described how Anthony Joshua’s role model status is not a priority as the boxer gets criticized regardless. His priority is to vindicate his loss and ignore the haters.

“He doesn’t even want to talk to him, he wants to knock him clean out. He didn’t have that feeling last time but it’s a new game now, a new game. Josh wants to take his head off,” said Hearn. “Josh can’t win so he’s decided, do you know what, maybe it’s a new approach, bring back the nasty Josh. We hope that nasty Josh comes out for the Ruiz fight.”

Do you think a re-focused Anthony Joshua can avenge his loss to Andy Ruiz Jr.?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 8/29/2019.