Anthony Joshua confirms date for next fight and reveals Deontay Wilder is on four-man shortlist

27/04/2024 14:14

Anthony Joshua has told talkSPORT that his next fight will take place on September 20 or 21 at Wembley Stadium in London.

AJ has revealed that there are four names on the shortlist to be his opponent with Deontay Wilder vs Zhilei Zhang and Filip Hrgovic vs Daniel Dubois set to take place on June 1 in Riyadh – whoever puts in the best performance will emerge as the frontrunner.

It was already known that Saudi Arabia’s boxing chiefs headed up by His Excellency Turki Alalshikh are planning a big event at Wembley in September.

Many had speculated that AJ could headline, and the man himself has now confirmed this.

When asked for an update on his ring return, Joshua told talkSPORT’s Jon Jackson ahead of the Formula E Monaco E-Prix: “Whenever they tell me there’s a date, you know I’ll be ready 100 per cent.

“It’s gonna 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.

“Wembley, September 20 or 21.”

Discussing his potential next opponent, AJ explained HE Alalshikh’s plan.

“On June 1 in Saudi Arabia they’ve got the 5 vs 5 card,” Joshua recalled.

“You’ve got Filip Hrgovic vs Daniel Dubois, and you’ve got Zhilei Zhang vs Deontay Wilder.

“So providing one of those looks good – the one who looks the best, His Excellency Turki Alalshikh said to me, ‘I want you to fight [him].’

“What he says is, ‘In the future I want people to look back at your record and say that you took on the best.’

“I said, ‘Now you’re speaking my language.’

“So out of that pool, I believe that’s who I’m gonna be fighting, one of those.

“We’re on the same page and he’s on the same page as the fans as well.

“He’s trying to deliver what the fans want, I know they want that big fight with Tyson Fury and he’s working on it.

“But Fury’s got his obligations with Oleksandr Usyk so I’ve gotta make sure I stay focused and disciplined, keep steamrolling through opponents so I can get closer and closer to having the opportunity of me vs Tyson Fury.”

Joshua vs Wilder is of course the biggest potential fight out of the four names in the frame for September 20/21.

That fight was signed and supposed to happen in March, however Wilder was beaten by Joseph Parker in December and so AJ faced Francis Ngannou instead, winning by devastating KO.

Regarding whether he’s still open to fighting Wilder if he beats Zhang on June 1, Joshua said: “Let’s go, 110 per cent.

“I think that if he goes out there and looks good that will kind of reignite that flame that he had.

“Because boxing is all about perception. You can look bad one fight and go out there the next fight and look good, then everyone says, ‘Yeah, he’s back.’

“So I pray that he does his thing, I pray that Zhang does his thing.

“Whichever one looks good and whichever one His Excellency wants, I’m ready.”