During the post-fight press conference following his knockout win over Alexander Povetkin, unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua talks about his plans, or lackthereof, for a showdown with Deontay Wilder.
“We’ve been trying to negotiate with their team after the [Carlos] Takam fight. Then I had to fight [Joseph] Parker, carried on negotiating, then had to fight my mandatory. I don’t wanna wait til December for him to finish this fight, have his rest, and then start negotiating because I start training for a fight, again, early Jan.
“So I wanna kinda get my fight penciled in as soon as possible, this side of the year so I know what I’m doing next year. But it seems those negotiations take a long time but, as I said, there’s a lot of room for all of the heavyweights. They’re all talented, they all can fight. Povetkin wasn’t a champion but he came — we conquered — but he definitely came game and people were entertained. So if Wilder’s not serious there’s other people out there. When he’s ready, we’re ready.”