ANTHONY JOSHUA has roared back at his doubters “I haven’t become a p***y overnight”.

The 30-year-old Watford ace, with a lion tattooed on giant middle finger, was the king of the heavyweight jungle before Andy Ruiz Jr stunned him on June 1 and snatched all of his belts.

Joshua was king of the heavyweight division until his shock loss to Ruiz in the summerCredit: Mark Robinson Ltd

Anthony Joshua was knocked down four times by Andy Ruiz Jr in his shock New York lossCredit: AP:Associated Press

The pair duel again in the Saudi Arabian desert on December 7 and critics of AJ have been popping up quicker than the 12,000 seater stadium getting rapidly erected to host the showdown.

The 6ft 6in hulk has cut salt from his diet and built a squad of short, quick-fisted sparring partners to mimic the 19st squat Mexican.

But he snarled when asked if he had changed anything about his physiological approach to the must-win rerun.

At his Sheffield training camp, Josh said: “We haven’t done anything differently mentally, I am a champion.

“I walked into the gym and three years later I was Olympic champion.

“I have had one loss but I am not about to become a p***y overnight and not be able to fight.

“I can fight, that is it, I don’t need to reflect on that, I just need to win.”

After the astonishing upset at Madison Square Garden, critics accused the 2012 Olympic champion of worrying too much about his bodybuilder muscles and ignoring his boxing s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁s.

Recent photos of the Brit ace seem to show him looking a lot lighter than the 17st 9lbs he weighed for his disastrous US debut.

Anthony Joshua insists one loss to Andy Ruiz Jr does not make him a ‘p***y’Credit: Alamy Live News

But, wrapped up under a puffer jacket and beard making his dimensions difficult to judge, Joshua dismissed worries over his waistline and insisted expert sparring arranged by trainer Rob McCracken will see him through.

He said: “I think it is more to do with the angles of the photos. I am still as strong and heavy as ever.

“Weight is a big factor in the heavyweight division these days but I don’t think it should be such a big deal.

“I am not really focused on my weight, I am just focused on my sparring. I could weigh anything but it just comes down to how I perform in the ring.

“If I sparred six times and, after a chat with Rob, we decided which one was my best spar, we will know what weight I was and adjust to that.

“I will never get my weight down and then adjust my sparring to that. I am not concerned with anything apart from how I am performing in the ring.”

Team AJ has cherry picked a squad of inch-perfect sparring partners to mimic everything about 6ft 1in deceivingly fast champ.

Timothy ‘Mayhem’ Moten shares almost identical dimensions and has done the full 12 week camp, cruiserweight Andrew ‘The Beast’ Tabiti flew in from the Floyd Mayweather gym in Las Vegas and old friend and rival Wladimir Klitschko sent over lightning quick German Albon Pervizaj.

And McCracken, who drafted in an extra pad man in Angel Fernandez for this camp, says the practice rounds are only going to get more brutal once French hardman Carlos Takam arrives in the coming days.

It all sounds a far cry from the over-technical rounds ex-champ David Haye fears contributed to Joshua getting stunned in the Big Apple.

Joshua said: “My sparring has always been technical and David Haye has never been in my camp.

“I only needed 16 fights to become champion of the world, I have always been a fighter.

“You cannot be lacking anything and I have not been protected, Rob has not been tying anyone’s arm behind their back and letting me spar with two.”

McCracken added: “ Since Josh has been a professional, sparring partners have always come here to try to rip his head off and make a name for themselves.

“This group of sparring partners has done really well and pushed him every step of the way and we still have three very important spars ahead where our strategy is going to be carried out and they are still to come.”

Even verbal sparring partner Tyson Fury could not escape AJ’s quickfire answers in his final media appearance before jetting out to the Gulf.

When asked to respond to the Gypsy King’s claims he looked disinterested ahead of the earth shattering seventh-round stoppage defeat, AJ pulled no punches.

“Of course I wanted to be there,” he barked. “Tyson is at a different stage in his career, I always say he turned professional in the same year I had my first amateur fight and he’s been professional 11 years doing his thing.”He would never understand what I’m going through. He’s another one entitled to his opinion, I was ready, I was in a good place.”

Andy Ruiz stunned the boxing world with his winCredit: Getty Images – Getty

But AJ thinks he can bounce back in their Saudi Arabia rematchCredit: Mark Robinson Ltd.