Anthony Joshua has opened up on his realisation that he may not become undisputed heavyweight champion, claiming the feat is ‘not in my time frame’.
The 34-year-old is set to take on Otto Wallin on December 23 in a blockbuster night of boxing that will also see Deontay Wilder face Joseph Parker in another big heavyweight dust-up.
The British fighter comes into the bout off the back of consecutive wins against Jermaine Franklin Jr and Robert Helenius, and also admitted that he would like to take on Wilder or even Francis Ngannou in 2024.
Despite that, the former unified heavyweight champion opened up on his chances of becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion after he lost his WBO, WBA, IBO and IBF belts to Oleksandr Usyk in 2020, claiming that he may have to wait six years before he can pick up those belts again.
In an interview with TNT Sports, the fighter was asked by Laura Woods whether he feels he could still be a challenger for the undisputed title, but he said: ‘I used to, but it won’t happen anymore.’
Anthony Joshua has opened up on his ambitions in boxing and has spoken on the realisation that the undisputed heavyweight title may be out of his reach
It comes as Joshua is set to take on Otto Wallin (R) on December 23 in a massive night of boxing that will also see Deontay Wilder take on Joshua Parker
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When pressed on why, he explained: ‘I think it is because of the reality, because what will happen is that Usyk and Fury are in a position to compete for the undisputed. And once they compete for the undisputed, the belts will get split up again.
‘And I feel will probably take me about maybe five to six years to go through and get all the belts and beat all the independent champions, and that will probably take me until I’m 40 or 41, before I do that again. So I’m just like, it’s probably not in my in timeframe.’
After suffering back-to-back defeats to Usyk in August, Joshua delivered an emotional post-fight press conference, where he broke down in tears while expressing his disappointment in his performance.
Joshua said after the fight: ‘It’s really, really hard for me to say I’m proud of myself. I don’t feel anything, I’m just… I’m upset. Deep, down in my heart.’
And when asked whether he went through a period of grieving, Joshua said: ‘Yeah you saw it after that [Usyk fight].’
‘Yeah, was that grief?’ Woods replied.
‘Yeah. Because if I weren’t in the undisputed race anymore, I wanted to be champion so that was like a massive, like, I don’t know how to explain it but something comes over you but it’s just passion.
‘Passion, a lot of emotion. Yeah, a lot of emotion. So, now I’ve got over that. It’s not part of my plan anymore. So what’s next I could aim to become champion.’
Joshua had lost his heavyweight belts to Oleksandr Usyk in August 2022 after suffering back-to-back losses against the Ukrainian
He came back to beat both of Robert Helenius (R) and Jermaine Franklin earlier this year
But Joshua admitted he is still aiming to become a world champion and admitted that he’d be open to fighting Francis Ngannou
Joshua also admitted that he hadn’t felt that pressure had not lifted off his shoulders: ‘Because it’s still like you could still fight this person. You could talk about that person. And this person just emerged out of nowhere. So there’s still competition.’
He added that he would one day be interested in a fight against Francis Ngannou, who was recently beaten by Tyson Fury via a split decision.
Joshua, who also branded the ‘Gypsy King’ a ‘diva’ in the interview said: ‘I think Ngannou won. The refs are there for a reason and they score it hey score how they score and they’re professionals or what they do. I’m just an observer. So fury one Well, I think from a fan point of view Ngannou won.’
On Fury, he said: ‘Bodybuilders up, dossers down. He just like a fat slob that can’t fight and he keeps saying that bodybuilders can’t fight but he got smacked up by one.’