PHOTO: Meet Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua who wiill rule world heavyweight boxing

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Wladimir Klitschko believes Anthony Joshua will become the new “dominant force in the heavyweight division”.

According to Sportinglife, the Ukrainian, now 39, currently holds three of the four major belts but has no doubt that the British Olympic gold medallist will win a world title sooner rather than later.

In an interview with Ringside, Klitschko has no doubt that Joshua is ‘that’ good and will rule the sport’s blue riband division.

“I can talk about Anthony Joshua a lot,” he said.

“I can say a lot of good things about him and I like the way this guy is developing so well.

“I would say – probably on a short line – I am so confident he will become the dominant force in the heavyweight division.

“I would put any money on Anthony Joshua winning any other fight that comes up. That means a lot!”

Joshua spent time in Klitschko’s training camp last year and has since moved to 13-0 with 13 knockouts inside three rounds.

The last one of those stoppages was an explosive two-round demolition of the experienced Kevin Johnson, who took Vitali Klitschko the distance back in 2009.

And Wladimir again, pulled no punches when it came to praising Joshua.

“I was expecting Anthony to win this fight but I never thought he was going to win that comprehensively!”

Meanwhile, Klitschko insists he is willing to return to England if his next world title defence against Tyson Fury is confirmed.

The prospect of fighting Fury in front of his home fans would not faze Klitschko, who is considering UK venues as he looks for possible locations in Europe.

“As for right now, there is no contract signed or made, so there is still negotiation with the Fury camp,” he told Ringside.

“I think we are pretty much done with that and I hope so too. You never say until the contracts are signed and I’m really open-minded.

“I haven’t fought in England for a long time. It was a great event and a great audience. British fight fans are really exciting and loud. I really got to hear them also in my fight against David Haye in Hamburg.

“I look forward to fighting back in England or another place. It’s definitely going to be somewhere in Europe. It’s not a fight for the United States.”

On his road to a world title shot, Fury has racked up 24 wins, and the unbeaten Wilmslow man has previously attended one of Klitschko’s training camps.

But the long-reigning champion has not paid too much attention to his latest challenger, although he is familiar with Fury’s outspoken behaviour before fights.

“I haven’t watched too many fights of Tyson Fury,” he said. “I’ve heard a couple of things in the background and his involvement in fights, especially verbal fights.

“I think he is more famous for his verbal fighting that the actual boxing fighting. Obviously he’s had 20 something fights – I haven’t watched his fights in particular.

“I’ve heard about him and I’ve seen him as well, while he was in my training camp, during the time when Emanuel Steward brought him in. I’ve seen him sparring a couple of guys, a couple of rounds, but I can’t say much about him right now.

“I think we’re going to get together at the first press conference before the fight and after I’m going to watch how he fights and what he does in the ring so I can give a better assessment of Tyson Fury.”

Klitschko remains determined to unify all the titles and is keeping a close eye on Deontay Wilder, who defends his WBC belt against Eric Molina this Saturday, live on Sky Sports.

“Obviously he is one of my target opponents, since he’s holding the title that I’ve never had before,” said Klitschko.

“I definitely want to unify all the belts, but it’s not a must. If that’s not going to work, I’ll still be the heavyweight champion of the world. It’s not a must, but it would be nice to unify that belt that Deontay Wilder holds.”
Source: PUNCH