Anthony Joshua Wants To Fight Deontay Wilder At Wembley Stadium On April 13th

Anthony Joshua has revealed that he has a date booked for his next fight and is waiting for Deontay Wilder to accept his challenge.

Speaking on ESPN's First Take, the 29-year-old Brit called out the 33-year-old Alabama-born boxer and said he is interested in making a unification match a reality.

"My situation is that: [Wilder's] saying that I won't fight him," he said (via BadLeft Hook). "As I've said, I'm willing to fight Deontay Wilder [on] April 13th in London. So I don't know what more I have to do to get that message across.

"He's more interested in fighting Tyson Fury. Tyson Fury holds no world titles.

"Let me say this: I can't control what Deontay Wilder, I can't control what Tyson Fury does -- or even as far as what they say. But what I can control is what I say and what I'm doing.

"I made sure, with the negotiations, I've booked the date in advance, set the venue in advance and I'm making my point clear in front of everyone watching: I'm willing to fight any one of these guys, especially the [WBC] champion Deontay Wilder, April 13th at Wembley. What more can I say?

"I'm not interested in Tyson Fury, though, 'cause he's not the champion. That's where I'm coming from. But that 'lineal' status, when I was joining the heavyweight ranks no-one told me about lineal champion.

"I knew about WBC, IBO, IBF, WBA and WBO, and I've got my hands on four of them. So I don't know where this lineal just popped out of the woodworks from.

"But if I've got to get my hands on that too, and that's a belt that the world's interested in, then Fury can step in if he's serious. That's where I'm coming from: I wanna fight the champions.

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"I'm the one leading the pack, I've been doing that since I made my debut. Five years in, seven world title defenses and I'm running the game. I mean business. And I don't know what more I got to do to get that message across to the world.

"As I've said, maybe because I'm not on here with ice around my neck, flashing jewels and talking about PPV numbers -- that's not really my swag, you know what I'm saying? -- but I handle my business, that's where I'm coming from. I'm about my business and I do that in the ring."

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Wilder defended his WBC Heavyweight Championship against Fury on 1st December. The bout ended in a draw, despite many fans believing that the 30-year-old Brit should have been named the winner.

The Gypsy King took the microphone and called Joshua a chicken after the fight.

Since then, the WBC has released an official statement to say that it had reached a "unanimous agreement" to sanction a rematch.

Should Wilder accept AJ's challenge?

Let us know in the comments.

Topics: AJ, Tyson Fury, ESPN, Bronze Bomber, Boxing News, Anthony Joshua, Boxing, Wembley Stadium, Deontay Wilder

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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