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ANTHONY JOSHUA DREAMS OF A 5TH TITLE BELT IN 2020

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Two-time world heavyweight boxing champion, Anthony Joshua is placing priority on unifying the five heavyweight titles rather than defending any of the four he currently holds.

As a result, he prefers to have a bout against Deontay Wilder instead of meeting Tyson Fury.

Fury and Wilder will fight for the second time in February, with the ‘Gypsy King’ challenging for the American’s WBC belt – while Joshua holds the IBO, IBF, WBO and WBA belts. 

On the Graham Norton show on a British television, Joshua was asked which of his rivals he would prefer to fight next: ‘I really don’t know. Either one of them, it doesn’t matter. 

‘The preference would be the champion Wilder because it’s a championship fight, but Fury is so talented as well and it’s the best of British so why not? I’ll fight either one of them. 

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‘The dream would be to go for the fifth belt in 2020.’

Wilder has voiced his doubts over the unification bout, and was highly critical of Joshua’s careful tactics in the ring against Ruiz. 

However, with Joshua’s audience figures dwarfing the American’s in his recent Luis Ortiz fight, Wilder can’t sniff at the opportunity of taking on Joshua. 

The ‘Bronze Bomber’s’ Fury saga is expected to become a trilogy, after the pair reached a split-decision draw at the end of 12 thrilling rounds in their first bout a year ago. 

Joshua re-ignited talk of fighting either man with his dominant unanimous decision win against Ruiz in Saudi Arabia, showing outstanding mental strength to reverse his embarrassing defeat to the Mexican in the summer.  

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Talking on the shock loss, he said: ‘I feel that if you always look back you can always find a reason as to why you could have done things better, but honestly, I just got beaten by the better man. 

‘I have to take it on the chin and do it better next time.’

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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