Anthony Joshua Says He’s Not Waiting Around For Deontay Wilder Which Is Why He’s Fighting Dillian Whyte

Anthony Joshua wasn’t going to wait until December to fight Deontay Wilder.

Joshua is set to rematch Whyte on August 12 at The O2 in London in a fight many are calling a tune-up fight. The plan was for Joshua to box Wilder in December, but Joshua says he wasn’t waiting around for that fight and is only focused on Whyte.

“Forget Wilder and them,” Joshua said at the press conference (h/t BoxingScene). “That’s been going through my head for so many years now. I’ve seen the shenanigans in the heavyweight division. I’ll be for real. You’ve seen [lineal/WBC heavyweight champion Tyson] Fury saying he was training for Usyk. SugarHill came out and said, ‘Nah, I’m not training him.’ You can see all the lies going on. I don’t waste my time with time wasters. It’s only a fight. I just want to fight and get on with it.”

Anthony Joshua says the focus remains on Dillian Whyte as he knows if he loses, the Wilder or any other fight won’t happen. With that, the former heavyweight champ is confident he will show the world how much better than Whyte he is.

“I can be here like. ‘I’m gonna smoke Dillian, I’m gonna run through Wilder. Then I’m gonna fight for the heavyweight championship.’ But that’s projecting a false narrative,” Joshua told DAZN after the press conference. “It’s not reality yet. What my reality is, I got Dillian Whyte in front of me. Wilder, of course that would be amazing. But I’m not waiting around. I could have waited. But I need to stay consistent. I need to fight. I don’t know what he’s doing with his career. He ain’t fought (since October). That was one round. I just need to crack on and do what I need to do.”

Do you think Anthony Joshua beats Dillian Whyte?