IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has declared his desire to fight former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko this year.
“It’ll be amazing for boxing in general, for British boxing, for people who want to see a general step up in class, it ticks all the boxes for me at this present time,” Joshua told Sky Sports. “A heavyweight fight, a former champion versus a current champion it’s a fight that will definitely tick that box.
“It’s an interesting fight, it’s definitely one that people have got interested in just by mentioning it so there’s a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes. We’re dealing with a legendary sportsman in Klitschko and a current champion. There’s egos on the table so we’ve just got to put that aside and hopefully we can get this deal done.”
He noted of the fight, “I can’t go in there thinking because I’m a heavyweight, I’m strong I can go out there and outstrength and outpower Klitschko because he’s a tactician.”
November 26 has long been pencilled in for Anthony’s next fight. Joshua still wants to box Klitschko on that date but acknowledges it could be pushed back a couple of weeks if it is indeed to take place. “I’m hoping November because it has been mentioned,” he said. “There are people that have been booking hotels, changing schedules around but if it means that we push it back another two weeks for December then it’s no problem with me because the fight will come, the fight will go as long as the fight happens then it’ll be one that I’ll be happy about.”
