28 Mar

Joshua dreams of a third fight with Usyk

The former unified heavyweight champion of Britain, Anthony Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs), will return to the ring on April 1 at the O2 Arena in London for an interim match against the American Jermaine Franklin (21-1, 14 KOs). The task of the former division leader is to perform well after suffering two consecutive losses to Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs).

Joshua has expressed his willingness to have a third fight with Usyk, but has also accepted his defeat: "I lost to Usyk twice, and I let my fans down. Therefore, I accept the criticism that comes my way. I always have the highest expectations for my performance, but Usyk proved to be a really tough opponent. However, I would definitely take a third fight with him with great pleasure."

"But I finally gave up trying to become the undisputed world champion," Joshua admitted.

"Trying to become undisputed is still a big deal. But I'm just going to focus on becoming champion again, by taking one of the 4 titles. By the way, why is the IBO not taken into account? Who knows? I have received a lot of criticism for saying that my priority is to earn as much as possible. But what's wrong with that? Here are all of you who have gathered here. After all, you are also here because of money. So what's the problem then? I'm a dude who fights for money. Therefore, money is a priority. I'm just trying to be as honest and open as possible with you."

Joshua has explained that this is precisely why he opened his own management company - to assist young fighters in making the right decisions.

As he puts it, "neither I nor anyone else can go back to the moment when we were 23 years old and replay one of our wrong decisions. The business side is very important in sports, because it gives a boxer the opportunity to return everything lost, restart his career.”

I tell young people: "Follow your dream, build your legacy. Without titles, you can't make money. But at the same time, it is equally important to monitor your bank account. And you also need to remember that in boxing you are not paid as much as you are worth, you are paid the money you’ve agreed to. That's why it's important to conduct negotiations intelligently," he said to Boxing King Media.

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