I don’t need any help to make my mark

Joshua:

ANTHONY JOSHUA reckons it’s only a matter of time before he faces heavyweight prospects Joe Joyce and Daniel Dubois.

But the IBF world champion insists he does not need to build rivalries with either of them — or anyone else for that matter — to cement his legacy in the fight game.

Muhammad Ali had Joe Frazier, while Evander Holyfield had Riddick Bowe.

Right now, following Wladimir Klitschko’s retirement, Joshua (above) does not have a foe with whom a potential rematch or trilogy of fights could be made.

But Joshua, who faces Kubrat Pulev this month, said: “I don’t need a rivalry. I’m creating my own path, I don’t need anyone. I’m just happy going at my own pace, it’s not a sprint, it’s a career. I’ve got another 10 years in the game and I can’t fight everyone by next year, it’s just not possible.

“I’m planning for the long term, not the short term, and everything will work out for the best.

“All heavyweights have an opportunity to make a big play in the division. So Daniel Dubois will be a player among the rest, and I will fight him at some stage when he moves up.

“If I fight him tomorrow, it will be a big fight; if I fight Joe Joyce tomorrow, it will be a big fight.

“That’s the way the division is rocking at the moment.

“I could fight anyone and it would be a big fight.

“People just want to see who’s going to be the man to beat me.

“That’s what people come out for — to see me knock someone out cold or to see them knock me out cold. If I fight ‘Joe Bloggs’, who the bookies may not have put in a position to beat me, but he ends up putting up one hell of a fight, that takes his stock up and it creates that type of Ali-Frazier trilogy.

“It seems we don’t have that right now, but Joe Joyce has just turned pro, there’s Tony Yoka, so there’s a new wave coming through.

“In three years as a pro, I’ve managed to catch the attentions of the division and I’ll give all these guys the chance to come and challenge for the belt.”

Joshua is rumoured to have been knocked down in sparring by Dubois, so he knows his potential.

But he has warned the younger fighter, who has won all four fights by knockout, that he still has a mountain to climb.

Joshua added: “How many fights has he had, four?

“He’s a long way off. If a fighter wants a sprint, he can go all guns blazing, but they don’t last long.”

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