Anthony Joshua reiterated his want to lastly combat Tyson Fury after he had knocked out Jake Paul in Miami.
Joshua stopped the YouTube star within the sixth spherical of their combat after enduring irritating early rounds, however insisted he nonetheless needed to face long-term rival Fury in his subsequent combat.
Promoter Frank Warren revealed final week that Fury had “indicated” he would return for the blockbuster British bout and Joshua issued a recent problem in his post-fight interview.
He informed Netflix: “I can’t wait to go into 2026. If Tyson Fury is as serious as he thinks he is, and he wants to put down his Twitter fingers and put on his gloves, and come and fight one of the realest fighters out, there then I’ll take on the challenge.
“Step within the ring with me subsequent in the event you’re an actual dangerous boy.
“Don’t do all that talking, ‘AJ is this, AJ is that’, let’s see you in the ring and talk with your fists.”
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn additionally acknowledged his dedication to safe the elusive Fury conflict.
“We want the Tyson Fury fight of course. That’s the fight, the biggest fight,” mentioned Hearn.
Joshua returned to the ring for the primary time since a knockout loss to Daniel Dubois final September and gave an trustworthy evaluation of his show in opposition to a novice opponent, who was having simply his 14th boxing bout.
“It wasn’t the best performance,” mentioned Joshua.
“The end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the request and that was on my mind. Took a bit longer than expected but the right hand found the destination.
“Jake Paul has achieved very well tonight, I need to give him his props. He acquired up, time and time once more. It was troublesome in there for him, however he stored on looking for a approach by way of.
“You have to give Jake his respect for trying, trying and trying. But he came up against a real fighter tonight that’s had a 15-month lay-off.”
Paul defied expectations by staying within the combat till the sixth spherical and even landed a couple of eye-catching photographs, however Joshua dismissed questions on his opponent’s punch energy and his ‘legacy’ within the sport.
“I refuse to get hurt. I refuse to acknowledge getting hurt,” mentioned Joshua.
“I refuse to be beat. This is boxing, I’m going to get hit and when I get hit, I’m going to counter-punch you. Every time he hit me, I stood there, and I tried to hit him straight back. There was no hurt in me.
“I do not care about legacy. All of the legacy is there to do is simply final for about 50 years and as soon as it is achieved, it is achieved. I am simply doing what I take pleasure in to do. That is what I made a decision to do.”
