Anthony Joshua has called for a huge world title fight with Tyson Fury after a dominant win over Jermaine Franklin in his ring return.
The former two-time world heavyweight champion has lost out on a bout with his British rival three times and is keen to force through a bout between the pair, declaring that neither of them are "getting any younger". At times the Watford native lit up the O2 Arena in London, but he was unable to get so much as a knockdown in a bout where a stoppage was expected.
And speaking after the bout, both he and promoter Eddie Hearn were keen to organise a bout with Fury, with deal points already agreed from their doomed December meeting. Should the fight happen, it would likely be the biggest ever on British soil, but could also land in Saudi Arabia given the finances on offer in the Middle East.
"British boxing, it's an amazing thing and honestly I do appreciate every single one of you, no banter," Joshua told fans during his post-fight speech. "I do appreciate every one of you highly. I wish I could come 'round and speak to every one of you... You know me, I try and provide for the fans so whatever the fans want, who the fans want, they said Fury?
"Well the ball's in his court. I 100 per cent would be honoured to compete for the WBC heavyweight championship of the world. I stand here and say that proudly, that would be an honour. So wherever you are if you're listening you know my management, you know my promoter, we've had dialogue before so let's hopefully get this on sooner than later.
"We're not getting any younger! I can't wait to get back to Texas, develop and push on because there's a bigger fight. I can't wait to get the next big fight."
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Hearn then insisted that they would make a deal to face Fury next, adding: "I think AJ's going to want the biggest fights. I will say that was a step down from Oleksandr Usyk but there was a huge amount of pressure on him. He took himself away, he's been training and it's his first fight with Derrick James.
"I thought he ended the fight well, he's learning a lot and working on a lot. "But like he said, they're not getting any younger. We would be willing to entertain those conversations now to go straight into a Tyson Fury fight in the summer. We've got Dillian Whyte down there, Deontay Wilder, a lot of good fights out there.
"I think he's going to improve under Derrick James. There was a lot of pressure out there and he's going to want the big fights as well."
