Joshua reveals how he would approach Wilder fight
Anthony Joshua says he would try to knock Deontay Wilder early on if the two met in a unification bout.
Joshua regained his IBF, WBA, WBO and IBO titles in Saudi Arabia with an composed victory over Andy Ruiz Jr in Saudi Arabia and now has his eyes firmly fixed on the rematch between WBC world champion Wilder and Tyson Fury on February 22.
But while ‘AJ’ switched things up with his style against Ruiz, boxing on the back-foot and elected against trading with the Mexican like he did in the first fight, he insists he wouldn’t adopt the same approach against knockout artist Wilder.
“He wouldn’t be there to do that in the seventh round,” Joshua told Sky Sports when asked about the way in which Wilder beat Luis Ortiz.
“I would go in to knock him out. It’s heavyweight against heavyweight, champion against champion.
This is a serious fight, so I ain’t going to go in there to try and outbox him for 12 rounds, because of his punching power as well. I’ve got to go in there and take him out. Don’t let him get too comfortable in the ring with me.”
Wilder has won 41 of his 43 fights by knockout and is widely deemed to be one of the most devastating punchers in the history of heavyweight boxing.
Joshua is aware of that danger Wilder poses but isn’t fearful and believe he can combat the Bronze Bomber’s power.
“Nah, not scary, but I know it’s there,” Joshua replied when asked about Wilder’s ability to find one big punch for the win.
“There are certain punches. Some are like concussive, some are stinging and some are like punches where they knock you out with one punch and you’re out for the count.
“Wilder possesses that kind of power. It’s about eliminating that power and just studying how to deal with it really.”
Only last month, Wilder told The Athletic that fans will never to get to see a unification fight between Wilder, despite it promising to be one of the biggest bouts in boxing history.
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He said: “We’ll never see it, and I don’t want people to get their hopes up on it because it’ll never happen.
“They couldn’t say anything about fighting me. They couldn’t mention my name. They went around me.
“I’m too dangerous. You’ve seen what I do in the ring. I don’t play around. And they know if Ruiz can get Joshua out of there, imagine. That’s why they stayed away from me.”