Anthony Joshua: If I beat Wilder, they’ll say he’s s**t

Anthony Joshua: If I beat Wilder, they'll say he's s**t

Unbeaten heavyweight star (some say future superstar) Anthony Joshua says he is finding it hard getting respect. Already a huge name in the UK, Joshua’s many fans pay to see him fight, fully expecting him to win by KO, and then afterwards the critics say Joshua merely bowled over an opponent he was always going to beat anyway. This is how A.J, 17-0(17) and yet to be extended beyond the 7th-round, says he feels.

Speaking with City AM, the IBF heavyweight champ who is now in training for his second title defence, set for November 26 in Manchester, says it is tough when people are comparing him to the likes of Tyson, Ali and Holyfield.

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Eddie Hearn: They all want a fortune! – promoter says it’s tough getting a foe for Joshua’s November defence

Eddie Hearn: They all want a fortune! - promoter says it's tough getting a foe for Joshua's November defence

Promoter Eddie Hearn has important matters at middleweight to deal with at the moment – namely his fighter Kell Brook’s audacious challenge for the world title against Gennady Golovkin tonight at The O2 – but the Matchroom boss is also working on the next fight for IBF heavyweight ruler Anthony Joshua. Joshua, 17-0(17) will fight in Manchester on November 26th, but so far Hearn has not been able to nail down the opponent.

Speaking with The Express, Hearn said that all three shortlisted challengers: Kubrat Pulev, Bermane Stiverne and IBF mandatory challenger Joseph Parker, are asking for “a fortune.” As a result, Hearn admits it’s been hard getting the opponent nailed down.

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Huge plans for Anthony Joshua’s next three fights; culminating with Wembley fight against Fury, Haye or Wilder next summer

Huge plans for Anthony Joshua’s next three fights; culminating with Wembley fight against Fury, Haye or Wilder next summer

Promoter Eddie Hearn fully expects, as do plenty of other people, Anthony Joshua to become a boxing superstar in the near future, and there are big plans in store for the reigning IBF heavyweight champion. First up, Joshua, 17-0(17) will make the second defence of his belt in either November or December, then there will be defence number three in March and then, next summer at Wembley, Joshua will possibly fight a massive fight against either Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder or David Haye.

Hearn spoke of these plans with Sky Sports:

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Heavyweight triple-header a possibility for Cardiff: Joshua-Pulev, Parker-Price, Chisora-Whyte!

Heavyweight triple-header a possibility for Cardiff: Joshua-Pulev, Parker-Price, Chisora-Whyte!

If Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn pulls this off he will be a guaranteed Promoter of The Year award winner in Britain this year. The big plans that are currently underway are for THREE big heavyweight fights to take place on the same night in Cardiff, Wales in either November or December of this year.

According to a news piece in The Mail, Hearn is working, along with others, on staging Anthony Joshua’s second title defence, Joseph Parker against David Price and Dereck Chisora against Dillian Whyte, all at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium. The word now is Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev, the current European heavyweight champion, is the frontrunner to land the shot at IBF boss Joshua. This fight, a solid match-up that could well provide A.J with his stiffest pro test thus far in his career, would be supported in fine style if the other two in-the-works match-ups get made.

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Eddie Hearn says David Price won’t get Joshua shot in November; likes the idea of Price-Joseph Parker in a final eliminator

Eddie Hearn says David Price won’t get Joshua shot in November; likes the idea of Price-Joseph Parker in a final eliminator

It’s still not clear who IBF heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua will be defending his belt against on November 26, but it will definitely not be David Price. Promoter Eddie Hearn had some air time on Sky Sports today, and he repeated the three “most likely” names for Joshua’s next bout: Kubrat Pulev, Bermane Stiverne and Joseph Parker, who is of course Joshua’s mandatory challenger.

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Anthony Joshua will fight November 26th, opponent and venue to be revealed soon says Hearn

Anthony Joshua will fight November 26th, opponent and venue to be revealed soon says Hearn

Anthony Joshua, who was a pumped up analyst at the Rio Olympics, giving his expert opinion on many of the boxing bouts, is now pumped up for his own upcoming fight. Eddie Hearn has announced how the IBF heavyweight champ will fight on November 26th; the venue and opponent will be announced in the coming days. But for the first time in quite a while, Joshua will not be fighting at The O2 in London.

The upcoming venue is interesting, maybe it will be Manchester, maybe Liverpool (“We are changing city,” Joshua said), but the main thing that interests fans is who the challenger will be.

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Price trainer Coldwell: “If not [Joshua next] we’ll fight Joseph Parker in order to get the opportunity”

Price trainer Coldwell: “If not [Joshua next] we’ll fight Joseph Parker in order to get the opportunity”

David Price really wants a shot at IBF heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua – the man he revealed last week he flattened in sparring many moons ago. Price, under new trainer Dave Coldwell, is finally finding his “nasty side,” according to the trainer who spoke with Sky Sports today. Coldwell says Price is “fed up of being ridiculed and written off,” and now has “the devil in him” as he trains and looks for his next fight.

Coldwell says Price will fight like the huge puncher he is from now on; so it’s goodbye, nice guy, hello merciless puncher. At least that’s what Coldwell says, and he is “loving it.”

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David Price says he KO’d Anthony Joshua in sparring, wants opportunity to try and do it again in IBF challenge

David Price says he KO’d Anthony Joshua in sparring, wants opportunity to try and do it again in IBF challenge

A couple of days ago, reigning IBF heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua put out a Tweet telling would-be challengers to leave him alone as far as asking for a shot at him unless they are “serious” and not mere hype jobs. Well, fellow Brit and former British champion David Price saw the Tweet and responded to it by stating he wants to fight A.J for his IBF belt. But that’s not all: with his challenge, Price told of a story regarding how he knocked Joshua out in sparring a few years back.

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Anthony Joshua-Hughie Fury called for in November; Peter Fury sees “an excellent fight”

Anthony Joshua-Hughie Fury called for in November; Peter Fury sees “an excellent fight”

Joshua Vs. Fury, for the IBF heavyweight crown this November – it certainly has a ring to it; even if it’s not Tyson we’re talking about, but the world heavyweight king’s cousin, unbeaten contender Hughie Fury. And Peter Fury, trainer of both heavies, says he is keen on his son Hughie challenging Joshua in his next fight. Talking with Sky Sports, Peter said Hughie has been treated for a skin condition and is now in full health when he had in the past been fighting when performing at just “30 or 40 percent.”

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Can a Wilder-Joshua clash bring the heavyweight magic back to Las Vegas?

Can a Wilder-Joshua clash bring the heavyweight magic back to Las Vegas?

There was a time, in the 1970s and 1980s especially, when almost all the big heavyweight fights took place under the glitzy lights of Las Vegas. Be it George Foreman, Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson or Evander Holyfield, and be it Caesars Palace, The Las Vegas Hilton or The Mirage, most of the heavyweight action was being fought in the Nevada desert. This changed in the 2000s and it’s hard to think of the last massive heavyweight showdown that took place in Vegas.

But this could change next year, so says Showtime boss Stephen Espinoza. Speaking with RingTV.com, Espinoza says there is a “lot of pent up demand” for a big heavyweight occasion in Vegas, and, all being well, rival title holders Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua will be giving these fans what they want before the end of 2017.

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