Espinoza: Joshua fighting in America a priority

With Anthony Joshua’s star rising following a thrilling knockout win over Wladimir Klitschko, Showtime executive Stephen Espinoza is eagerly awaiting Joshua’s arrival in the United States after signing him to a multi-fight deal last year.

Espinoza tells Sky Sports that both Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn are on one accord that coming to fight in the U.S. is high on their agenda.

"In our discussions with both [promoter] Eddie Hearn and Anthony, coming to America is definitely a priority," Espinoza exclusively told Sky Sports.

But before any specific plans are worked out, Espinoza says he expects Joshua to take a bit of time off after a big win, with plans for a contracted rematch with Klitschko still undecided at this time. Espinoza does certainly expects AJ to be fighting Stateside within his next couple of outings, though.

Ideally Espinoza would like to build another huge heavyweight unification fight, this time between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder. He says he’d like to have that fight within the next year, but the exact timing is a little debatable.

"I would say probably as a programmer and marketer, I probably want a couple of fights in the US to allow Anthony to get more acquainted, and more of a household name in the US market.

"But as a boxing fan, they are two young, strong guys in the prime of their career, and it's almost a foregone conclusion that they will fight, so why not do it right away."

Considering that we here aren’t television programmers and marketers, I say let’s just get right to it!