Anthony Joshua still humble despite world success

"Can you be the best heavyweight of all time?" The answer from Anthony Joshua surprised me. It’s an emphatic "No".

Spend a few hours in his company and it becomes clear why – he’s a humble, hardworking guy, still keen to learn without forgetting where he’s come from.

The boxing ring at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield is the same ring where Anthony Joshua won Olympic gold at London 2012.

It’s been moved to his training base and, as he shadow boxes around it, displaying his remarkable speed of hand, it’s impressive.

He is impressive.

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It’s no wonder companies are falling over themselves to be associated with the AJ brand.

His people say no to most requests these days, but Joshua is as far from being a detached, untouchable sports icon as it’s possible to be.

His training camp is friendly with no big entourage.

His lifelong friend David is ever present along with his trainer Rob McCracken and a blue tooth speaker for his music.

Apart from his publicist, who is there for our purposes only, that’s it.

This is a place of work, with Joshua, the star of the World Heavyweight scene, a big friendly giant at the centre of it.

There are plenty of other boxers in the gym and he has a word or wave for all of them.

He even waves at me as he walks in and I’ve only met him once before.

As his training finishes, some young female boxers come for their practise and he chats away to them, cracking jokes while doing his warm down. He likes to chat and laughs a lot.

That’s not to say he doesn’t work his socks off.

He does, listening to everything Rob has to say about his technique, asking questions – should he go one more round or one more minute, should he try something again.

The Joshua/McCracken partnership is a solid one.

The former middleweight boxer was the British Olympic boxing coach at 2012 and AJ listens carefully to his constant stream of instructions, most of which start with "relax". There is respect on each side, that is obvious.

McCracken was the one who dared to criticise Joshua’s incredible victory over Wladimir Klitschko by pointing out, the next time he set foot in the gym, exactly how he could have done it better.

Despite the material riches that came with that victory (Joshua has now bought a house in addition to his mum’s council flat) he keeps things simple.

He stays in the basic training camp accommodation just like the rest of the boxers – his only nod to luxury is a chef who cooks all his meals – designed to maximise his recovery after training.

He won’t get carried away by his growing status in world sport, he won’t change things because he can afford better.

If it’s worked so far – and 19 knockout wins says it has – Joshua doesn’t feel the need to change, except in the ring.

Evolving, learning and getting better at his craft – that sort of change he can handle.

(c) Sky News 2017: Anthony Joshua still humble despite world success