Ahead of his rematch with Dillian Whyte, Anthony Joshua has no time to talk about his rivals at the top of the division – or time wasters, as he calls them.
The two-time world champion is back on the heavyweight horse after losing his titles to Oleksandr Usyk, and, with a win against Jermaine Franklin under his belt, is heading into a second fight with Whyte after stopping him back in 2015 for the British title.
It’s been well-publicised that a win here will see Joshua move ahead to a fight with Deontay Wilder, but it’s not something he wants to address.
Asked at the kick-off presser by his promoter, Eddie Hearn, why he was taking the risk of Whyte before a potential Wilder bout, Joshua cut him off – and brought Tyson Fury into the conversation too.
“Forget Wilder and them lot. Them lot been doing my head in for so many years. You lot have seen the shenanigans in the heavyweight division, even with – I’ll be real – Fury saying that he was training for Usyk. SugarHill come out and said ‘nah I’m not training him, what do you mean I’m training him for a heavyweight championship fight?’
You can see all the lies that’s been going on, so I don’t really waste my time with time wasters. It’s only a fight. I just wanna fight, get on with it. I’m gonna be 34 this year, moving on … Just crack on while I’m here. I’m not really wasting my time waiting for people, chasing people.”
“From the day when I started fighting, even from the amateurs, you can see the trajectory I’ve been on. Ready to get down, ready to put my neck on the line and fight whoever. And it’s still like that.”
‘AJ’s comments refer to the failed negotiations between Fury and Usyk earlier this year, with both men posting videos of training camps for the undisputed bout but a fight failing to materialise.
During this, Fury’s trainer, SugarHill Steward, said he was unaware of any Usyk fight – a comment that has been quoted plenty since the talks collapsed.
Joshua-Whyte represents some welcome movement in the division.
It will be followed by Usyk’s title defence against Daniel Dubois before Zhilei Zhang’s rematch with Joe Joyce. Fury is readying a ‘game-changing’ announcement and Wilder is currently trying to set up an opponent for a September ring return.