I don’t know whether people noticed but before AJ left the ring he was seen doing a prayer on the boxing floor. Obviously after he was pictured in a mosque back in January 2017, he knows not to go public with this sort of stuff because of his English Fanbase. But could it be he was fasting or observing ramadan during his training camp etc One of his Brothers is a strict muslim and he’s parents are from Nigeria which is around half muslim. So it’s not far stretched to think maybe he’s one. Again be clean with the comments because we don’t want this thread getting banned...
Last time he fought during Ramadan was in 2016 vs. Breazeale. And there he looked fine. I doubt he's muslim though. It would be public information, especially after his loss. You can't hide that even if you want to hide it. Furthermore he's probably really dumb if he does it right before a world title fight and the big US debut. As far as i know you can catch up Ramadan later if you can't do it in time. So why he's doing it right before a world title fight if he could do it right after without any problem in the religion? It makes no sense at all. He's no part of an muslim soccer team or something. These guys are basically forced to do it because of politics and other strange stuff, even during World Cups or other tournaments. I don't buy it.
Two members of his entourage are very strict Muslims (their instagrams are Healthy Mindset and Silverback_AJ). Both of them are also massive roid heads but that's another subject...) Joshua may well have secretly converted to Islam because if you follow him on social media you'll see he has respect for the religion and seems to flirt with becoming a Muslim. He may well be keeping it quiet because he'd lose some of his casual fanbase who might be anti-Islamic. Regardless, he will not have been fasting in camp. Athletes can be exempt from fasting and they can observe their fasts after competition to make up for missing them during Ramadan. It's not the reason for his defeat.
As CutThroatFade pointed out, there are a series of excemptions for Ramadan, including for athletes, travelers, and other people who would be vulnerable to the rigors of fasting. Is Anthony Joshua Muslim? I don't think so...yet. He clearly has more than a passing interest in that religion, and he does show signs of being someone with an inclination toward the spiritual side of life. I think it would be virtual impossible to conceal his faith if he had converted. He would also face a lot of pressure to publicize his conversion story. Islamic Dawah media is extremely aggressive in its marketing, and reporting a star like Joshua converting would be huge. Mostly I just think he finds it interesting, as I said before. I can relate, as I have a significant interest in Islam as well. It ultimately wasn't for me, but when I learned about the religion I found it was deeply fascinating in a way that its superficial portrayal in media doesn't convey. Maybe Joshua feels the same way.
Anybody remember years ago he posted on twitter or instagram of him wearing the hat and garb and praying on a rug?
Like I said one of his best friends since he was a kid is a converted Muslim and he was praying behind him in the mosque out of respect. He is clearly heavily influenced by that friend and behind closed doors the Muslims in his entourage probably teach him about the tenets of the religion for his general knowledge.
What an ignorant comment. You can fast and gain as much weight as you want if you are in a large calorie surplus.
I was happy to learn Julian J-Rock Williams is a Muslim. After his victory against Jarrett Hurd he was saying "Alhamdulillah" (all praise be to God) and he even said "Allah Akbar" which I am sort of glad nobody really noticed because the phrase has sort of become a meme with bad connotations. Regarding AJ being a Muslim, I think he has an interest in Islam and history along with many other topics and issues. If he reverted (or converted) I would be happy for him but I think it would be public knowledge quite fast as he has many Muslim friends and something like that would spread fast. There are many many Muslims in sports, especially football (soccer). In Liverpools Champions League side there were 4 (Mohammad Salah, Sadio Mane, Xherdan Shaqiri and Naby Keita). Some teams have even more and Muslims are over-represented in sports. Some followers observe Ramadan, even during big games, world cup matches etc. as there are exemptions to fasting as mentioned above. Whether he is or not, I don't think it will effect his career much at all. However, from what I have seen about AJ, I do think it will effect his personality and mannerisms etc.
That Williams post-fight interview in the ring is one of the greatest interviews that all fans should be made to watch on account of what he was saying about fighters being written off after one L. What a classy man he is.
yeah right... he trains 4-5 hours a day burns thousands of calories, doesn't eat or drink water until dawn if he was fasting for ramadan.. so what's he eating to stay in a calorie surplus? a whole camel stuffed with a whole lamb? stuffed with a chicken?? U lose weight trust me.
The first part of your post is the reason why he was clearly not fasting. Your initial quote was idiotic though. It's not hard to get into a calorie surplus while fasting regardless of the training. Try eating a pizza, a couple of calorie heavy shakes with ice cream and some pasta. That's already about 5,000 easy calories down the gut. Give me a six-hour eating window in a day (which is typically the eating window during this past Ramadan) and if I wanted to I could put away 7,000 calories no problem.
