Anthony Joshua believes he will fight Deontay Wilder.
The strong contender, who will face Jermaine Franklin on April 1 in London (DAZN), says iFL TV Thursday that the meeting between the two former world champions is “long overdue”.
Joshua 33, Wilder 37.
“It’s going to happen and I think it’s long overdue,” Joshua said. “It was a conversation that went on for a long time. For me sitting here saying ‘it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen’, I feel like I’m just messing around all over again.
“When it happens, it will happen and it will happen. That’s just me attesting to it. I don’t have to sit here and talk about it, and keep talking because I’ve been in that realm before, where we talked about it and it didn’t come true.
“When it happens, it will happen, and I’m confident.”
Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) is about to experience consecutive decisive losses to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and last August, the first one that cost him three of the four major heavyweight titles.
He has since announced that he will team up with coach Derrick James to fight Franklin (21-1, 14 KOs). James coaches title holders Errol Spence Jr. and Jermell Charlo.
Franklin, from Saginaw, Michigan, is about to experience the only loss of his career, deciding a majority against Dillian Whyte in November. He lost to Joshua 10-1 (multiple outlets average).
Wilder (43-2-1, 42 KOs) recovered from consecutive losses by knockout to Tyson Fury to stop Robert Helenius in a round in October.
