The fight looming ahead is not even on Anthony Joshua’s radar, no matter how often it’s been brought to his attention.
Any talk of a titanic showdown with Deontay Wilder—whether later this year or early 2024—is irrelevant to the former two-time unified heavyweight titlist. The thought of such a fight was motivating enough for Joshua to get back in the ring as early as possible, though it’s Dillian Whyte who currently commands his undivided attention.
“Forget Wilder and them,” Joshua stated, to the point of interrupting a question posed by promoter Eddie Hearn during a press conference held Monday to formally announce the Joshua-Whyte rematch. “That’s been going through my head for so many years now. I’ve seen the shenanigans in the heavyweight division. I’ll be for real. You’ve seen [lineal/WBC heavyweight champion Tyson] Fury saying he was training for Usyk. SugarHill came out and said, ‘Nah, I’m not training him.’ You can see all the lies going on. I don’t waste my time with time wasters.
“It’s only a fight. I just want to fight and get on with it.”
The rematch is set for August 12 at The O2 in London, which hosted their December 2015 meeting when both were unbeaten rising heavyweights. Joshua (25-3, 22KOs) won via seventh-round knockout and went on to claim the IBF title less than four months later in a second-round knockout of undefeated titlist Charles Martin. Three title defenses were lodged within a 55-week span, including his April 2017 off-the-canvas, eleventh-round knockout of Hall of Fame former lineal champ Wladimir Klitschko in the universal selection for 2017 Fight of the Year.
Joshua has not fought more than twice per year since then and only saw one fight each in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The latter two came in back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk (20-0, 13KOs) to end his title reign and which also left him without a win since a Dec. 2020 knockout victory over Kubrat Pulev.
The second loss to Usyk last August 20 in Saudi Arabia resulted in a training switch. Joshua enlisted the services of Derrick James. Their first fight together produced a twelve-round points win over Jermaine Franklin on April 1 at The O2, and the desire to get back in the ring as early as possible.
Those plans were compromised by talks of Joshua-Wilder as part of a planned blockbuster heavyweight event in December that would allegedly include a Fury-Usyk undisputed championship showdown. Plans for the latter are not even close to done and it is very possible that Joshua-Wilder doesn’t take place until the first quarter of 2024.
None of that matters at the moment to Joshua, or any other boxing-related matter beyond August 12.
“I can be here like. ‘I’m gonna smoke Dillian, I’m gonna run through Wilder. Then I’m gonna fight for the heavyweight championship.’ But that’s projecting a false narrative,” Joshua told DAZN after the press conference. “It’s not reality yet. What my reality is, I got Dillian Whyte in front of me. Wilder, of course that would be amazing. But I’m not waiting around. I could have waited. But I need to stay consistent. I need to fight.
“I don’t know what he’s doing with his career. He ain’t fought (since October). That was one round. I just need to crack on and do what I need to do.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox