Anthony Joshua discusses retirement plans
Unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has revealed he plans to fight at least another 14 times before hangs up his gloves. Joshua regained the WBA (Super), WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight titles earlier this month with a unanimous decision victory over Andy Ruiz Jr in Las Vegas. When asked how many fights he believes he has left, ‘AJ’ told Sky Sports: “14, 15. “That would take me to 35, 40 fights maybe.”
Anthony Joshua offers prediction for Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury 2
Joshua has backed Tyson Fury to win his rematch with WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, whom he’ll face in Las Vegas on February 22.
“The reason why I thought about it and why it came to fruition for me is because I feel like if Fury was to win that fight [against Wilder] I think he’d be more inclined to fight me next and quicker, than Wilder would,” Joshua told IFL TV.
“How long I’ve been waiting to fight for the championship belt, I think if Fury had it, me and him would have got a deal done. That’s why I was rooting for Fury to win because I just want to fight and collect my last belt. If I was a betting man, I think Fury wins.”
Canelo Alvarez open to Jorge Masvidal fight
Former WBO light-heavyweight champion Canelo Alvarez has revealed he’s open to boxing UFC welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal.
“For business, why not?” Alvarez asked when the prospect of a fight with ‘Gamebred’ with put to him by TMZ. “We’ll see.”
Masvidal, 34, called out the Mexican after his UFC 244 victory over Nate Diaz in November.
He told ESPN: “I consider myself 10 times the athlete [Canelo] is just because of MMA in general. All the strength, speed and power you have to generate – to throw one kick is like throwing ten right hands.
“The energy it takes to wrestle and pick somebody up in the air… boxing’s just your weight, nobody cares.
“If I could shift those energy blocks and bring them down to boxing where I’m throwing 80 or 90 punches a round, I feel I could hurt this dude.
“I definitely agree that if [Alvarez] was to go to MMA, it wouldn’t be a challenge because I’ve thrown 10,000 left high-kicks in a month and he’s never done one.
“It’s kind of the same thing to boxing, where if I’ve thrown a million jabs, then he’s thrown 10 million because that’s all his focus.
“That being said, there’s still an element that I could put his ass to sleep… maybe I don’t hit harder, but I’m definitely bigger. I could definitely make a statement and even it out for MMA, my sport. “There [are] still things in boxing that are a part of boxing.
“I just feel I could beat him up in some areas. Does he have a better jab and left hook than me? Yeah, of course.
“But there’s still elements where I could make it awkward for him, just like Conor did to Mayweather. Those are the mountains I like to scale. If I’m going into boxing, I want the best guy they got.”