Anthony Joshua boxing news and latest headlines
Though Dillian Whyte has his own fight to concentrate on – against the dangerous and determined Robert Helenius – Whyte also has major interest in Saturday night’s headline fight between Anthony Joshua and late replacement foe Carlos Takam.
Whyte (who, interestingly, AJ told Eddie Hearn was the man he would most liked to have fought after Kubrat Pulev was forced to pull out due to a shoulder injury) told Sky Sports how he sees this Saturday’s fight as “an easy fight” for WBA/IBF ruler Joshua.
It’s arguably THE biggest fight fans want to see take place aside from a return between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez: it’s Anthony Joshua-Deontay Wilder in what would be a monster heavyweight unification showdown. But the promoter of one of the two fighters says the fight will only go ahead if Wilder agrees to take substantially less than a 50-50 purse split.
British promoter Eddie Hearn has a great idea: Deontay Wilder gives his fighter Dillian Whyte a shot at the WBC title and then the winner fights Anthony Joshua in a massive unification showdown next year.
But US promoter Lou DiBella doesn’t like the idea, not one bit. DiBella, in speaking with Sky Sports, said that in his opinion Dillian Whyte is “irrelevant” in the career of Deontay Wilder and that “the concept that we would somehow feel obligated, or the necessity to fight Dillian Whyte for a chance to fight Anthony Joshua is a joke.”
Unified Heavyweight World Champion Anthony Joshua worked out for the media on Tuesday in Sheffield, England, as the undefeated British sensation continues preparation for his showdown against IBF mandatory challenger Carlos Takam on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT live on SHOWTIME from Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. (Photocredit Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
“This is a must-win for myself and for Carlos Takam,” Joshua told Sky Sports, which will present the fight in the United Kingdom on Sky Sports Box Office. “As much as my supporters want to see me win, there are still a few people who doubt me and want me to lose and disrupt our plan. They don’t want to see the cream rise to the top.”
Just days after a big heavyweight title fight between WBC champ Deontay Wilder and Luis Ortiz fell through, a second world title clash in the sport’s glamour division is also said to be in serious jeopardy. According to various reports, Bulgaria’s IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev is injured and his October 28 challenge of IBF/WBA heavyweight ruler Anthony Joshua will have to be postponed as a result.
While almost all fight fans and boxing historians feel there will NEVER be another fight or night as epic and as truly special as the happening that was the Joe Frazier-Muhammad Ali super-fight from 1971, reigning WBC heavyweight king Deontay Wilder says that a fight between he and rival champ Anthony Joshua would rank right up there with “The Fight of The Century.”
Like Ali and Frazier were at the time of their monster fight, Wilder and Joshua are unbeaten, close to their respective peak, and each boasts a genuine claim to the crown. There the similarities end but Wilder, in speaking with GQ, is adamant a fight between he and the IBF/WBA ruler will be the biggest fight in the division’s history for some time.
Fans are currently enjoying the exciting, the-best-fight-the-best, World Boxing Super Series tournament; or to be fully accurate, we are enjoying two ongoing WBSS tournaments; the one at cruiserweight as well as the one at super-middleweight.
So far, both eight-man elimination tourneys have gone smoothly and we have seen some great action fights along with some crunching knockouts – and the thrilling finals are still to come, in the first quarter of 2018.
It’s time for WBA/IBF heavyweight ruler Anthony Joshua to take his show on the road. So far in his exciting 19-fight pro career, AJ has boxed in the UK only, but Eddie Hearn has laid out plans for the immediate future – and after Joshua has come through okay against his IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev who he will face in Cardiff on October 28, the next fight will take place abroad.
Anthony Joshua is not one for trash-talk, yet he could not resist coming out with a little bit of it when addressing the recent calling out he has been subjected to by both Deontay Wilder and David Haye.
Wilder, via a video the WBC heavyweight champ uploaded on social media, strongly suggests the WBA/IBF ruler is unwilling to face him. Not so says AJ, who gave both Wilder and his fellow Brit Haye both barrels.
Should the guaranteed heavyweight explosion that is Deontay Wilder, WBC king Vs. Anthony Joshua, WBA/IBF champ, take place in the U.S, the U.K, or some place else? Without doubt THE biggest possible fight that can be made in the glamour division of the sport today, Wilder-Joshua HAS to happen and, all being well for we fight fans, it will happen.
But where?