That led him to boxing. “I’ve been through a lot in my life,” Josh explains. “Boxing helps me let out the stress and deal with things that are inside me. I don’t think of myself as an angry person anymore. Football helped me deal with a lot of that, although it still comes out in the ring from time to time.” Popper started boxing in 2018 at age twenty-five. That’s a late start. On June 1, 2019, he attended the first fight between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz at Madison Square Garden. “I never
in New York under the promotional aegis of Larry Goldberg. The plan was to match him against Gabriel Aguilar Costa – a 22-year-old living in Massachusetts who had a 2-and-5 ring record with 5 KOs by. “Nine amateur fights isn’t a lot,” Eric Bottjer (Goldberg’s matchmaker) explained. “Josh is athletic and he’s a quick learner. But that’s different from experience. He’s still a novice and he has to be matched accordingly. You want to protect the integrity of the show but
to turn pro last year, there was a feeding frenzy of sorts among New York promoters for his services. Offers ran higher than one would expect for an amateur with his limited ring ledger. Why? There’s a detail that I’ve left out. Josh was living with his girlfriend who was 65 years old at the time. Her name is Madonna . . . Yes, that Madonna – the singer, songwriter, actress and trailblazing entrepreneur. They met when Josh was training her “I’m scared until the bell rings. But I son at Bredwinners Gym. A series of photos posted on Instagram in February 2023 showed them posing together after one of his amateur fights at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn. One month later, Madonna was photographed at another of his matches. In April, they attended a piano recital together. We live in a social media world, and boxing is particularly susceptible to its influence. Too often in the sweet science today, celebrity status counts for more than talent. Promoters were salivating. “We’ll build you for a fight against Jake Paul,” one promoter told him. “If Josh hits it big,” another promoter fantasized, “he and Madonna could be boxing’s version of Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift.” Josh declined to play “the Madonna card.” Instead, he agreed to make his pro debut on a small club-fight show slated for December 16, 2023, at Sony Hall
witnessed a sporting event that moved me like that,” he recalls. His first amateur bout was contested on June 24, 2022.
you don’t want to get him beat. So you don’t match him against someone who’s too gifted or too experienced as a fighter. Josh against Aguilar would have been a fair test and a good fight.” It wasn’t to be. In mid- November, Popper suffered a scratched cornea. The fight was rescheduled for March 7. Then, in mid-February of this year, a routine MRI required for licensing by the New York State Athletic Commission revealed an irregularity that troubled the commission’s medical staff. Popper submitted a report from
“Boxing scares me,” Josh admits. “Walking to the ring, I’m asking myself, ’What am I doing here? I’m about to get punched in the face.’ I’m scared until the bell rings. But I love the nerves. They make me feel alive. Right before a fight starts, I look at my opponent. And what’s going through my mind is, ’You don’t know what’s coming your way. You might not deserve it, but I’m coming at you.’ Then the bell rings, something in my mind clicks, and I’m not nervous anymore.” Popper had nine amateur fights, compiling a 7-and-2 record with 3 knockouts. Too often, he made opponents miss but didn’t make them pay. “I’m not the most aggressive fighter in the world,” he concedes. “But I play defense well. I move the way I move. I defend the way I defend. I take pride in the fact that I don’t take many punches. I like to lay traps. And then I transition to a mean, violent me. “Being a professional fighter is something I want to do,” Josh continues. “I’m one hundred percent boxing- oriented at this point in my life. My best weapons are my jab and my quickness. Everything works off my jab. I’m a boxer, not a mauler. I know that to succeed in the pros I’ll have to become more of a fighter. But I think I can be world-class.” When Popper announced his intention
love the nerves. They make me feel alive.”
an outside neurologist saying that his condition left him no more at risk than any other fighter. But New York and New Jersey both denied him a license to box. That was followed by more bad news. On May 24, gossip columnists reported that Josh and Madonna had split up. Later, People magazine confirmed they had gone separate ways and that Madonna was dating Akeem Morris, a Jamaica-born soccer player. Being Madonna’s ex-boyfriend is a less marketable commodity than being Madonna’s boyfriend. Meanwhile, Popper was anxious to fight. And he had a new management team – co-managers Sonya Lamonakis and Marty Hopwood. Lamonakis is vice president of USA Boxing Metro and had been seeking involvement in Popper’s career long before he turned pro. Hopwood has had a successful career in business and
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