I won’t fight Parker, Fury, and Wilder in 2018, says Joshua

Anthony Joshua has warned fans he will not fight Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury and Joseph Parker in 2018.

The IBF and WBA (Super) champion is targeting a massive unification fight next year and fans have been speculating Joshua could take on the trio of heavyweight kings.

Parker holds the WBO title, Wilder is the WBC king, while Fury is still considered by many as the undefeated heavyweight champion despite spending two years away from the ring.

But, Joshua has dismissed the idea he could fight all three of the heavyweights in the space of a year.

‘There’s a lot of talk about 2018 in my career. It’s seems like this is the grand finale,’ he told Sport 360.

(But) even though there’s a lot of talk – in reality, it isn’t going to be like Joseph Parker, Wilder and Tyson Fury all in one year.’

Joshua seemed to snap last week with all the talk of his next fight as several potential opponents took aim at his character.

Wilder accused Joshua of running from him while Parker claimed to be already in talks over a unification fight.

Joshua hit out at Parker and then called Fury a ‘fat f***’, and the 28-year-old explained he had to ‘bite back’ at his challengers.

‘I try to be professional but remember this is a fighting sport and you have to meet fire with fire now and again,’ he said.

‘Sometimes if a dog barks at you so many times, the other dog needs to bite back and make sure the other dog puts his tail between his legs.

‘And that’s what you have to do with Tyson Fury sometimes. And that’s all it was, I just had to bite back.

‘I’m not one of these dogs that stay in the garden barking for hours, I make my noise – and that’s it – until we fight I don’t need to be hollering and yelling for days and for months.’