With a mega-fight against WBC king Tyson Fury looming on the horizon, unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua is focusing on the task in hand with his delayed encounter against Kubrat Pulev finally confirmed for the O2 Arena on December 12.
WBA Super, WBO and IBF champion Joshua and Fury have agreed to a two-fight series in principle, beginning in 2021, but that won’t be set in stone until both men have overcome their next fights.
Joshua faces IBF mandatory Pulev (28-1, 14 KOs) whilst Fury’s immediate future is a little less certain with his contracted trilogy fight against Deontay Wilder having seemingly fallen through after months of delays and speculation. ‘The Gypsy King’ now seems likely to meet a selected opponent at the Royal Albert Hall on December 5, with the likes of Oscar Rivas in the frame.
But Joshua is refusing to look ahead to a lucrative clash with Fury and be drawn into its hype.
“The situation with [Fury] and Wilder, now he’s up in the air, what he’s doing. It’s just a bit of a circus going on,” Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) told Sky Sports News. “When it’s solidified, you’ll hear it from me. Until then, I’m not really into the whole circus act and trying to promote my name off his back and him doing the same.
“I’m keen to fight him for sure, he’s a competitor in my division. A good one as well. It will give me a chance to showcase what I’m about as well.
“I had my little slip-up last year [LTKO7 Andy Ruiz, June 2019],” added the unified champion. “We’ve brushed it off [W12 Andy Ruiz, December 2019] and we’ve got the belts back and now I’m going to go out there and get back on the gravy train and fight the likes of Fury 100 per cent.
“But without getting past Kubrat Pulev, who is a serious competitor and challenger, there aren’t no talks of Tyson Fury and stuff like that.
“It’s a tough game I’m in, because as I said it’s the pot of gold at the end of rainbow, but before that I’ve got to navigate my way through and Pulev is a big old heavyweight standing in the way of that pot of gold.
“I’m still very hungry and disciplined, so I want to steamroll through him. That’s the fighter’s talk coming out. With that being said, it takes a lot of training in the gym and that is what training camp is about.”