The WBA, WBO and IBF world champion, Anthony Joshua has challenged Deontay Wilder, WBC belt-holder to a fight. The IBF world champion, made this challenge during an interview on US network ESPN.
The challenge comes a fortnight after Wilder defended his belt against Joshua's fellow Brit Tyson Fury in a thrilling draw in Los Angeles.
In contention, the WBC ordered an immediate rematch of the controversial clash, which most boxing observers thought Fury had done enough to win, leaving Joshua out in the cold and seeking a credible opponent for his April 13 date at London's Wembley Stadium.
But Joshua has called on American Wilder (40-01, 39 KOs) to forget about fighting Fury, who doesn't hold any heavyweight belts other than the lineal championship, having surrendered the belts he won from Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015 when he took time out of the sport.
Joshua bemoaned Wilder for trying to fight with Tyson Fury, opining that Fury holds no world titles. He therefore challenged Fury to a contest in April 13th, 2019. Speaking further, Joshua disclosed that he made sure negotiations on the date, venue was booked in advance. In his words “ I am willing to fight any one of these guys, especially the champion Deontay Wilder, at Wembley, April 13."
Earlier this week, Wilder accused Joshua's team of "begging" for the fight and expressed his wish to meet Fury again to "show people who is the best".
But Joshua said he would much rather fight Wilder than compatriot Fury in order to unify the division by claiming the American's WBC belt.
"I'm not interested in Tyson Fury, he's not the champion", Joshua said.
"I want to fight the champion. I'm the one leading the pack, I've been doing that since I made my debut.
"Five years in, seven title defences and I'm running the game and I don't know what more I have to do to get that message across."
