Joshua targets boxing history
Briton wants to be the first heavyweight champion to hold four titles.
Anthony Joshua is relishing the “great responsibility” of attempting to become the first man to hold all four heavyweight world titles.
The 28-year-old IBF and WBA champion faces Carlos Takam at Cardiff ’s Principality Stadium on Sunday morning (Fijian time).
A win will fuel talk of unifying the titles with the WBC crown of Deontay Wilder and Joseph Parker’s WBO version.
“History is a great thing to chase,” Joshua said.
“It’s very possible and a great challenge.” Asked if timing fights to satisfy all four sanctioning bodies made the task difficult, Joshua replied: “We will find a way to make it happen.
“It’s like a diamond in the dirt, the treasure, trying to get that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. If we can make it happen, I will be up for it - but if not, it’s not the end of the world and leaves a record to break for someone else.” Mike Tyson held three heavyweight titles in 1987, before the formation of the WBO. Since that body was created, no man has held four titles, with Evander Holyfield, Riddick Bowe, James ‘Buster’ Douglas, Lennox Lewis, Wladimir Klitschko and Tyson Fury all laying claim to three belts at once.
At Thursday’s final news conference before his meeting with France’s Takam, Joshua stressed he wants to put April’s Wembley victory over Klitschko behind him.
“The mindset of a fighter has to be leave that last fight where it was and move on to the next opportunity,” said Joshua.
“If I am living off past wins I may as well give up. I can’t lose this fight and say ‘I won a good one last time’. No-one cares. Could you match Anthony Joshua’s workout routine?” Takam, 36, stepped in to fight Joshua with only 12 days’ notice after an injury to original opponent Kubrat Pulev. He has lost three of his 39 fights and is likely to employ a more aggressive style than the Bulgarian. Joshua’s coach Rob McCracken said the change of fighter was “not ideal”, adding that Takam was a “live” and “dangerous opponent”.
Joshua also described the Cameroon-born fighter as a “different animal” to Klitschko, but said he feels comfortable with the late change.
“Rob has never just trained me for one style of opponent,” said Joshua. “He has trained me to be the best me.
“Whether I was fighting Pulev, King Kong or Takam, he’s trained me to be me - thinking about balance, footwork and hand positioning.”
Takam has never challenged for a recognised world title and said Saturday’s event - under a closed roof at Wales’ national stadium - will change his life.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn said: “British boxing has never seen anything like Joshua before in terms of draw and crowd sizes. He is a complete phenomenon.