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Anthony Joshua's words were cordial. The respect for his opponent obvious. But Britain's WBC and IBF heavyweight champion also wanted to make something clear: if he does not knock out the Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev when they meet in Cardiff next month he will consider his night a failure.

"It is heavyweight boxing," he said, during a disarmingly matter-of-fact soliloquy about the realities of his trade. "You have to knock someone out. It shows your timing is great, that you are a puncher, that you are a force to be reckoned with and that your aura is intact. Nobody comes to a boxing match to watch a 12-round fight, it gets boring. Unless it's a brawl."

"People will always say ‘this guy is tough' and then you go and knock him out, it adds value," he said. "That is why I like knocking people out. That is what the fans are there for. With the lighter guys it may not happen because there is not so much weight behind the punch. But these big guys, bang, you have to knock them out."

"You can take a man out by going to war or go down the technically perfect route, which just looks better on the super slo?mo, punch-perfect."