JEFF POWELL: Anthony Joshua is seeking respect in the last chance saloon… as the Brit aims to avoid upset loss to Otto Wallin to set up super-fights with Deontay Wilder

Of all the slings, arrows and brickbats hurled at Anthony Joshua since he fell from the gilded throne of world heavyweight champion, the one that will hurt him the most is completely devoid of foul language.

It was expressed in a simple sentence delivered this week in Riyadh by Deontay Wilder, who he will face in more than two $100 million superfights next year, assuming they both win their warm-up segments in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.

The Bronze Bomber said of AJ, “I feel like he has lost the respect of the heavyweight division over the last two years.”

Respect: That is the word that will bring Joshua into existence.

Respect: that's what hard men, born and bred in tough communities from the cobbles of East London to Glasgow's Gorbals – and yes, Exchange Road in Watford – value most. In fact, they demand it.

Just look at all those gangster movies where the killer explains, “He had no respect for me.”

Joshua is not a murderer, except euphemistically in his favorite form of legal battle. Outside of the ring, he is generally a pleasure to be around.

But the need for respect is in the DNA of men who have been educated on the streets. An environment that is often saturated with drugs. Possession of a small amount of these led to AJ being briefly jailed before sneaking into a boxing gym in search of redemption. That revelation was so successful that it earned him buckets of respect.

How much that means to him became clear on a Sunday morning, dappled in the April sunshine, seven years ago, when a few of us gathered in a Palladian villa he had rented in leafy St. John's Wood. There to reflect on winning his first world heavyweight title the night before by knocking out American Charles Martin inside two rounds at the 02 in London.

The congratulations were met everywhere with fist gestures, each time saying: 'Respect.' It's the biggest compliment he can give. There have been plenty of those over the years and when that word doesn't come out, you suspect he's upset about something.

At the end of that particular meeting, he revealed: “Since I won the (London) Olympics, I've been working on controlling my language, controlling any anger and suppressing those instincts. Do you think this is the right way?'

Since the question revolved around the sponsorships, advertising and business activities that have made him a separate fortune, I replied, “Yes. Think of how Mike Tyson only made commercial money after he retired from the ring and dropped the monster's mask.” As Shakespeare would have put it, Iron Mike eased his condition.

The question AJ now asks himself is whether he should return to his confused, expletive-filled roots. This fight week, he was alternately courteous and curt in response to suggestions that a defeat by Otto Wallin – which would be his third loss in five fights – would effectively end his career.

Joshua hasn't been the same explosive fighter who stormed to Olympic gold and won the most world titles since he was knocked out by Andy Ruiz Jr. four years ago. on Madison Square in New York. He regained the WBA, IBF and WBO titles in a rematch with Ruiz, but only by switching from his traditional frontfoot aggression to rearfoot caution against the grotesquely out-of-form Mexican.

He has subsequently boxed gingerly through two championship losses to former cruiserweight Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine and three mediocre victories over Kubrat Pulev, Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius.

The lone right-hander that destroyed the latter was his only bolt from the blue at the time.

However, his promoter Eddie Hearn reports, with a mixture of happiness and relief, a revival of the original resentment and malice in Joshua under yet another new trainer. That's strange considering Ben Davison has acquired impressive credentials through tactical and technical coaching.

The world, especially Wilder, with so much profit at stake, watches, waits and wonders.

Joshua's decline in popularity at home was noticeably accelerated when he gave a speech at a Black Lives Matter rally in Watford. It included an exhortation for its audience to boycott white-owned stores, prompting accusations of reverse racism. He defended himself by saying that he had read a statement written for him and had gotten his hands on it at the last minute before realizing its contents.

For what my two penny's worth, I believe him. This is a man who adores his only son, fully supports the estranged mother, and blends in with whatever company he encounters, seemingly without prejudice.

But once the tide of admiration turns, regaining public affection will not be easy. The jury is out. A statement performance against Wallin, preferably culminating in a KO, could influence the verdict. Although even against the second-tier Swede, this will require Joshua to throw away his shyness and risk returning to the damn attack that knocked him down and nearly knocked him out by Wladimir Klitschko, but from which he recovered to bring Ring Magazine's stoppage to cause. Fight of the Year 2017.

To this end, Joshua has gone to extraordinary lengths to battle his psychological demons. In October, before entering full training camp for Wallin, he went into voluntary isolation in a darkened room. His only contact with the outside world came when the clinic, which charged him £2,000 for four days in solitary, shoved his meals on a tray under his door.

He explained, “This is for my character. You and you alone embrace the infinite darkness, relax, clear your mind.”

The process is medically described as relieving all stress, tension and uncertainty. The absence of daylight increases the body's natural production of melatonin. This chemical promotes long, deep and undisturbed sleep. Joshua wisely limited this experiment to four days. If you spend a week in this confined and lonely condition, there is a good chance that you will fall prey to hallucinations bordering on madness.

Now, under the Arabian sun, he looks physically excellent. Although that was once the case with the prize fighter who mocks Tyson Fury as a bodybuilder.

The insults won't stop until he gets back on track, bullying and blowing away opponents. But he will have to come out with conviction from the start. Wallin is inferior to Joshua in most aspects of this tough old game and appears to be on the decline in his most recent fights. But this is a giant that is unlikely to roll over.

His only defeat came at the hands of Fury. But only at points after inflicting a gruesome eye cut on the Gypsy King, who, as is his wont, fought back from a near-fight ending setback to save the decision.

The event in Riyadh will be another showbiz spectacle in the winter season, hosting entertainment and sporting events and all the big names are expected to win. Joshua, in turn, shrewdly roars, “I'm the lion in the circus.”

It is not common to feel sorry for someone who has achieved all his professional goals and is well on his way to his stated ambition of becoming the first boxing billionaire. Yet there is something moving about a man who has dominated his domain, struggled to reclaim that nobility, but must do exactly that if he wants to reclaim that word……Respect.

A win, preferably with a bang, will dry the ink on the hugely enriching two-fight contract expected to be signed late Saturday night after the fight by AJ and Wilder, who have a somewhat tougher task to get through against Joseph Parker before reaching for the pens.

It is hot in the desert. If Saudi Arabia weren't as dry as the dust kicked up by a storm in the dunes, we'd be talking about Anthony Joshua entering the dim and grimy light of the last chance.