Anthony Joshua is certain Dillian Whyte’s victory when the two met as amateurs will mean little when they meet again at the O2 Arena tomorrow night.

There has been a war of words since the fight was made following Joshua’s clinical first round stoppage of Gary Cornish in September to claim the vacant Commonwealth heavyweight title.

Now the former Garston resident, who played football for Sun Postal as a youngster, will meet Whyte (16-0) as a pro with the vacant British heavyweight strap up for grabs.

But Joshua (14-0) is adamant his defeat to Whyte in 2009 will mean nothing when the two meet again in Greenwich.

He told Boxing News: “Deep, deep down I don’t think he is [taking much from it].

“He can take a little bit but I don’t think it’s everything to him.

“So I think deep, deep, deep down he’s not taking too much away from it. Because I think you really have to look at the progress and development and body shape, mentality.”

Speaking ahead of the bout, Whyte declared victory against Joshua wouldn’t qualify as a shock.

He said: “Nothing that happens in heavyweight boxing is a shock to me.

“If you look at the history of heavyweight boxing, all these so-called shocks and so-called upsets, they’ve been around since the very start of boxing.

“I’m not bothered about the odds. They’re just numbers on a piece of paper written by so-called ‘experts’. It means nothing to me.”

But Joshua brushed off his opponent’s confidence by saying: “I think with boxing you get to show yourself as a character and I think he comes across as a very confident person.

“I don’t know whether that’s through what he’s achieved. He had a short amateur career and not so many fights as a pro. I think it’s just him as a person.

“He hasn’t had that much of an amateur career, he took a few years out as a professional. I think his confidence comes from him as a person.

“Some people are just who they are through upbringing and he might just be a very confident person.”

Whyte was one of only three men to beat Joshua as an amateur – Mihai Nistor getting the better of him in the 2011 European Championships and Magomedrasul Medzhidov in the World Championships – but the Olympic gold medallist believes those defeats did him good.

He explained: “Against Dillian, I lost. I fought a guy that was more experienced than me. I realised boxing wasn’t as easy as I thought so I thought I had to up my level.

“So I went back and thought if I get fit and I get myself stronger I might be able to compete with these guys in the Worlds.

“I went to the Worlds, done what I had to do. Then I lost in the final. That was a tough fight [against Magomedrasul Medzhidov]. I lost fair and square.

“I thought I just need to get better and improve. At the Olympics it was tough there as well and I thought I need to get better.

“So that’s why now we’re fighting Dillian and I feel like I’m at another stage of my life.

“I’ve had to go through that improving stage and I should be able to get past Dillian, through everything that I’ve learned throughout my losses and my wins.”