Anthony Joshua can envision a scenario where he spends the rest of his career training in the United States.
As for when—or if—he will return stateside for at least a second time as a pro, that topic remains open for discussion.
“I think it’s a possibility,” Joshua told BoxingScene.com. “I was thinking about it [recently]– I’ve got a trainer [Derrick James] in America so it makes sense to fight again in America.”
For now, Joshua (24-3, 22KOs) returns home, in fact to the location of his pro debut for his next outing.
The 2012 Olympic Gold medalist and former two-time, unified heavyweight champion faces Michigan’s Jermaine Franklin (21-1, 14KOs) atop a DAZN show this Saturday from The O2 in London. Joshua has played the venue seven times in his already storied career, including knockout wins over Charles Martin to win the IBF heavyweight title and Dominic Breazeale to defend the belt in back-to-back appearances in 2016.
Joshua continued to develop as among the sport’s biggest stars, filling up venues throughout the United Kingdom. His popularity traveled the pond, as his U.S. debut played to a packed house at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The June 2019 night ended in disaster, as Joshua was stopped inside of seven rounds by Andy Ruiz to end his unified WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight title reign.
Revenge was gained via unanimous decision in their rematch six months later in Saudi Arabia, where he also suffered his most recent defeat. Joshua’s second title reign saw one successful title defense—a ninth-round knockout of Kubrat Pulev—before he suffered back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk.
The first fight took place in front of an announced crowd of 66,267 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London. A sellout crowd is expected this weekend at The O2 for Joshua’s first fight under Derrick James, the reigning 2022 Trainer of the Year who also guides the careers of unified welterweight titlist Errol Spence (28-0, 22KOs) and undisputed junior middleweight king Jermell Charlo (35-1-1, 19KOs).
Watford’s Joshua spent the better part of the past three months in James’ training facility in the greater Dallas area, in lieu of having the world class cornerman flown to the UK. Joshua plans to continue that trend for future fights, though it remains unclear if it will include another fight in the U.S.
“People say, ‘This person fights on the road’… look, people fight wherever the f— the money is,” noted Joshua, who has fought in six different countries on three continents in more than nine years as a pro. “Certain champions, they don’t want to fight in their hometown because no one will f—–’ come. They got to fight where the person is the bigger draw.
“So, for me, I will fight wherever the bigger draw is. That’s what it is, really. Let’s keep it real. I’ve fought in America, I fought in Saudi, I fought in England… Wales. It doesn’t actually matter really. It just happens to be just where the biggest draw is. If that happens to be in America, then that is where you will see me again.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox