BOXING

Joshua says he will return to the ring in September at Wembley Stadium

The former heavyweight champion wants to step in the ring soon after demolishing Francis Ngannou in one round last March.

Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will soon be in action, as they will meet in June, but a third top heavyweight will be in the ring too in the upcoming months. Anthony Joshua said he will fight again at the end of the summer, on September 20 or 21, in Wembley, London.

The former two-time heavyweight champion added that the list of his potential opponents is rather short, but he’s eager to take on anyone.

It’s going to be in London, Wembley Stadium. This is what I’m being told. If that’s what they say, they normally back their word so let’s go with that”, he said to Talk Sport. “Wembley, September 20 or 21. You have Filip Hrgovic versus Daniel Dubois and Zhilei Zhang versus Deontay Wilder (on June 1)”.

“So providing one of those [winners] looks good – the one who looks the best, His Excellency Turki Alalshikh said to me, ‘I want you to fight him.’ He’s trying to deliver what the fans want”, Joshua added.

Joshua wants to be a world champion before retiring

After losing twice to Oleksandr Usyk, many believed that Joshua, 34, wouldn’t recover mentally and didn’t give him much of a chance to see him fight for a title again.

However, the Watford native changed trainers and made some adjustments, aware that he needed to bring something else to his game to become a champion again.

AJ proved many doubters wrong in his following fights, winning all his bouts since then. He beat Jermaine Franklin, Robert Helenius, Otto Wallin, and Francis Ngannou and seems to have recovered the confidence he used to have.

Against any of the fighters he mentioned, he would have a big chance of coming out on top. Wilder seemed very fragile against Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang was outpointed by the New Zealander. Hrgovic and Dubois are dangerous fighters but a defeat to Joshua wouldn’t probably surprise many boxing fans.

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