"Looking back I wished I knocked him out."
That's the biggest regret Anthony Joshua holds after his unanimous points-decision win over Kiwi Joseph Parker in Cardiff earlier this month.
The now-WBO champion, successfully defended his IBF, WBA and IBO straps in a technically flawless 12-round display against Parker - a contrast to his previously aggressive high-risk approach that led to 20 straight knockouts.
Joshua told fans at a public appearance in London that he felt a heavy weight of pressure, as big money fights with Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder loomed after his win over Parker.
"When people were telling me, 'Parker is quick, you know, he can fight,' I was thinking, 'He can, I'm going to get banged out in this fight'," Joshua said.
"It was a hard situation I found myself in because I was fighting [Parker], but everyone was already talking about the next two fights [Wilder and Tyson Fury], so everyone is thinking I'm going to walk through these guys. I started having pressure on myself and I didn't want to make any mistakes.
"I think I sacrificed my boxing entertainment, that risk-it-all mindset I had.
"Looking back at my last fight, I lost it in that fight because I was so focused on just boxing performance - hit, don't get hit and control the fight - and there were times in there where I thought, 'Ah, let me explode on this guy'.
"Then [I thought], 'Woah, woah, I have to think about Wilder next, let me get back to doing what I'm doing' and in a way it was good, because now when Wilder steps up, I'm going to take it to him hard."
Joshua told the audience that he was proud to have showed his technical prowess in defeating Parker, an opponent that many pundits thought would cause the Brit problems in later rounds.
Joshua hopes boxing experts will now recognise he is more than just a power puncher.
"For 20 fights, I catered for the knockout audience and I said for this one [Parker], I'm going to cater for the boxing experts, stick behind my jab and do it the old-school way," Joshua said.
"It's set up what's to come next, and I'm learning on the job and I'm going to risk it all now."
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