Heavyweight boxing in the United Kingdom is in good hands. Once dominated by the Americans, the likes of Tyson Fury, Daniel Dubois, Joe Joyce, Dillian Whyte, and a long list of others have wrestled things back in favor of the Brits.
Currently, thanks to wins over Deontay Wilder, and Wladimir Klitschko several years ago, Fury is viewed as the heavyweight division’s top dog. Anthony Joshua, however, is vexed whenever Fury is given that sort of praise. When it comes to his home soil, he refuses to accept that anyone is better than him.
“I am the top heavyweight in the UK,” said Joshua during a recent presser.
The conjecture surrounding who’s the best heavyweight in the United Kingdom will be cleared in the next few months. Fury will take on Oleksandr Usyk for a shot at undisputed, with the loser likely to enforce their immediate rematch clause. Joshua, in the meanwhile, won’t simply sit back without jumping in on the action.
Officially, the former unified champ will square off against Francis Ngannou on March 8th. As long as everything goes according to plan, Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) envisions a matchup with the winner of Fury vs. Usyk.
Before giving thought to how Joshua would do in a third fight with Usyk or a showdown against Fury, his desires may come across as bemusing. The fighters represented in the United Kingdom are great in their own right, but the rest of the world has plenty of their own heavyweight talent.
Although countless contenders reside all across the globe, Joshua isn’t losing any sleep. Of course, Zhilei Zhang, a native of China, Filip Hrgovic, hailing from Croatia, and Jared Anderson, the loquacious American – are all legitimate threats. Joshua though, is focusing on what’s taking place in his neck of the woods.
“I’m not really too concerned about the world,” continued Joshua. “I’m trying to conquer where I live.”
