Joshua’s plan seems to end talk of Deontay Wilder bout

ANTHONY JOSHUA has hinted he won’t hang around for Deontay Wilder to fight Tyson Fury before deciding his next move, reports

Wilder will defend his WBC heavyweight title against Fury at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on December 1. The American was in negotiations to fight Joshua before the WBA ordered ‘AJ’ to defend his title against Alexander Povetkin, who he saw off this past weekend.

The winner of the fight should, in theory, be in pole position to face Joshua in April, though they would have to perform a quick turnaround to lock horns with the Olympian at Wembley.

Joshua - like many others - was frustrated with the failed talks with Wilder’s representatives, so much so that he’s contemplating fighting someone other than ’ The Bronze Bomber’ on April 13. “We’ve been trying to negotiate with their team after the [Carlos] Takam fight,” said Joshua.

“Then I had to fight [Joseph] Parker, carried on negotiating, then had to fight my mandatory.

“I don’t wanna wait ’till December for him to finish this fight, have his rest, and then start negotiating because I start training for a fight, again, early Jan.

“So I wanna kinda get my fight pencilled in as soon as possible, this side of the year so I know what I’m doing next year.

“Even if he lost, I’d still fight him, because he’s a big name and people do what to see it anyway,” Joshua told IFL TV. “So I’ll still fight him [Wilder], yeah.

“Fury needs to focus on Wilder, and that’s all he needs to worry about and he’ll do a good job.

“Maybe he’ got a good game plan and remedy, so good luck to him.”