Anthony Joshua has revealed how he once thought hip-hop icon Jay-Z was going to punch him in the head.
The former heavyweight boxing champion spoke out to recall a moment in 2013 when he met Jay-Z at a Will Smith movie premiere and asked for a photograph.
AJ, 31 years old, is now a worldwide icon having defeated Wladimir Klitschko, Andy Ruiz, and was just a rising star after winning a gold medal in the London Olympic Games.
After the boxer grabbed his wrist, Jay-Z was apparently annoyed and snubbed him.
Speaking to William Hill, Joshua said: “Jay-Z was cool. I was at a Will Smith premiere once, years ago.
“So imagine – you know those lovely houses that are like mansion houses and they’ve got a stairway in the middle and they depart around left and right and they come back?
“Pure opulence. I was at this big premiere and it was one of those big staircases and I was in the top left. And I saw Jay-Z walk in.
“And I was thinking, “Yo, JayZ.” Do you get what I’m referring to? Are you ready to leap down the balcony? But I thought, “Play it cool”.
“So I thought, what way is he gonna come up these stairs. Because if I stand on the left and he goes on the right, there are too many people, it’s a premiere.
“Thank God I stood at the right side. As he come up, I was kind of like (grabs his wrist), ‘Jay, do you mind if I get a picture?’
“And he kind of looked at my hand, yeah, like, ‘Boy, I will bust your head if you don’t get off my hand.’
“But it was just one of those things where I just gave the guy the camera.
“That picture is one of my first on Instagram. Jay-Z just has a plain face. Here’s me smiling big.”
Joshua will defend his titles against unbeaten Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday.