"Fans want to see" - Anthony Joshua believes he could still fight Deontay Wilder in future
Anthony Joshua isn't going to write off Deontay Wilder just yet.
'AJ' is currently slated to return to the ring on March 8 in Saudi Arabia. As the story goes, Joshua was supposed to face 'The Bronze Bomber' on that date. However, after Wilder was upset by Joseph Parker in December, he was pulled.
So, the former two-time champion will instead be facing another extremely powerful heavyweight in the form of Francis Ngannou. However, that doesn't mean that Joshua is completely moving on from Wilder despite the opponent change.
Speaking in a recent interview with Sky Sports ahead of Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou, 'AJ' was asked about Deontay Wilder. There, he stated that he had no issue fighting anybody, including 'The Bronze Bomber '.
Joshua echoed the fact that the two were signed to fight in March, but Wilder didn't hold up his end of the deal. That being said, the British boxer believes that there's still a lot of fan interest in the bout. With that in mind, he can't write off the potential matchup.
Speaking in the interview, Joshua stated:
"It's a fight that fans want to see. I'm not saying it's completely written off. It's a fight where everything was signed and sealed. It just needed both of us to deliver. And he didn't meet his end of the bargain... I've signed to fight Fury, I've signed to fight Wilder, I've signed to fight a lot of people. I just do good business. I'm a good prizefighter, I don't duck a challenge."
Anthony Joshua previews Francis Ngannou bout
Anthony Joshua has a different opponent than he was expecting on March 8, but he's not overlooking Francis Ngannou.
'The Predator' famously got this short-notice opportunity by nearly upsetting Tyson Fury in October. In his boxing debut, Ngannou dropped the lineal heavyweight champion and was a scorecard away from defeating him.
Many fans, including Fury's father, speculated that the boxer simply overlooked the PFL heavyweight. Training partners have since hit back at that idea, but 'AJ' is taking Ngannou very seriously.
In the aforementioned interview with Sky Sports, Joshua was asked about his next opponent. There, the former champion stated:
"He had a good outing as well against Tyson Fury who is the current WBC champion. So I think it will be good for me to see where I'm at. You should always overestimate people if you want my opinion. Never underestimate anyone, always overestimate people and that way you'll never be surprised."