PROMOTER WANTS ANTHONY JOSHUA TO VACATE WORLD TITLES

Boxing promoter, Frank Warren has advised  Anthony Joshua to give up his four world heavyweight title belts and wait to face the winner of either Tyson Fury or Deontay Wilder.

Undefeated heavyweight rivals Wilder and Fury have confirmed they will meet again on February 22 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, in a repeat of their thrilling draw back in 2018.

Joshua regained his WBA, IBF and WBO belts from Andy Ruiz Jr on December 7, 2019.

He now faces a mandatory defence of his IBF title against Kubrat Pulev from Bulgaria, which could possibly be staged in March.

But Warren believes Joshua is so vulnerable to another shock defeat against a lesser opponent that he is better off staying out of the ring until he can fight the winner of Fury vs Wilder, and finally prove once and for all who is the number one heavyweight in boxing.

Speaking on Monday’s Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast, Fury’s promoter said: “Joshua did tremendously well to get his titles back after losing them in such bad fashion, he came back and did what he had to do.

“But he did it against a guy who didn’t even train!

“If I was him, I’d be looking for that big mega fight, let’s find out who is the number one in the world.

“I would love to see the winner of Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder in with Anthony Joshua.

“If I was AJ I would sit tight, let them fight and then fight the winner.

“That’s what I’d do. Get everybody around the table, get rid of all their obligations, their mandatories and their rematch clauses and make the fight the fans want to see.

“We’ve all got an opinion who is number one, but let’s see who is the number one, let’s find out, let’s get the real deal done.

“I’m not interested in Joshua sparring with Tyson as he volunteered to do, I’m interested in him getting in the ring with Tyson.

“That’s what matters. That’s where it counts.”

Speaking recently about his future plans, Joshua talked about the possibility of having to vacate one of his titles, and revealed just how many fights he has left in his career.

He told Sky Sports: “14 or 15 – that would take me to 35, 40 fights maybe

“I would hate it [to vacate one of his titles] because it’s so hard to go round and collect all these belts, it’s really difficult and I’ve kept hold of them for so many years.

“So to have to vacate because of the boxing politics would be annoying, but there’s things that are out of my control.

“If I do lose one, I know I’ll be able to get it back.”