Sports

Anthony Joshua calls out Deontay Wilder and insists he is 'ready' for unification fight


Anthony Joshua is ready to fight Deontay Wilder after taking back his belts from Andy Ruiz Jr.

Joshua avenged his shock defeat to Ruiz Jr in June by outclassing the American-Mexican with an 118-110 118-110 119-109 win in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.

The Brit will likely take on his mandatories Oleksandr Usyk and Kubrat Pulev next but has put American superstar Wilder firmly in his sights.

“I’m ready,” Joshua told Sky Sports. “I’ve got my belts back and I’m ready to fight him. But I’m not looking too far into the future because it takes your eyes off what is front of you.

“I take it step by step and, by the time I get to unification, I will be ready.

Anthony Joshua insists he is ready to fight Deontay Wilder

“I’ll knock them down one by one and, when the big boys are ready, I’ll be ready to become the next undisputed champion of the world.

“I really want to make that happen.”

Wilder had produced a blistering attack of Joshua’s performance in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.

“Joshua did what he had to do to get the win,” Wilder told The Athletic. “He ran around the ring and was on his bike all day.

“Basically, he had Klitschko in the camp and he was a lot like Klitschko: that jab-grab-hold method. That’s all he did tonight.


“You want to dominate guys, man. Maybe I’m just too rough, too hardcore and too much of a dream for this time and era, maybe the world wants that nice shit… my mentality is so different from these other fighters.

“But when I think of myself as a champion… you want to come out there and whoop his ass.”

Wilder, who will face Tyson Fury next year, is a potential future opponent for Joshua – as both aim to position themselves as the greatest modern heavyweight.

When asked about Wilder’s comments, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn laid a beat-down on the American.

Eddie Hearn has spoken about Deontay Wilder’s comments

“What after Joshua put on an absolute public exhibition and schooled the World Heavyweight Champion?” Hearn told iFL TV.

“We spend too much energy and time on Deontay Wilder who in the whole grand scheme of things has just boxed in America at Las Vegas and sold 7,000 f****** tickets and done about 100,000 buys on pay per view.

“No one gives a monkey about Deontay Wilder, I’m sorry but it’s true.”

Hearn added about Joshua’s next fight:”There’s an IBF mandatory, there’s a WBO mandatory. Tonight’s about celebrating the victory. His first mandatory was Kubrat Pulev, he pulled out, he faced Carlos Takam on a week’s notice.

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Anthony Joshua beats Andy Ruiz Jr

“His WBA mandatory was Alexander Povetkin. Nobody wanted to fight Alexander Povetkin at the time, he took care of that mandatory as well.

“Kubrat Pulev is the IBF mandatory, Oleksandr Usyk is the WBO mandatory, and I see him wanting to take both of those fights as well.

“We’ll have to speak to the governing bodies, see who goes first, and then deal with that. Anthony will have a nice Christmas and a holiday. We’ll work behind the scenes.”





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