British-Nigerian heavyweight boxing champions, Anthony Joshua will at a point of his career, consider bringing a heavyweight world title fight to Africa.
Anthony Joshua’s manager, Freddie Cunningham, however, dispelled claims that the proposed fight will hold in Joshua’s country of descent, Nigeria.
According to the manager, Anthony Joshua’s promoter is considering the Democratic Republic of Congo. He also claims that they have received a formal invitation from the country to stage a fight there.
“[Promoter Eddie Hearn] is exploring an option in [Congo]. There has been an approach,” Sky Sports quoted Joshua’s manager Freddie Cunningham as saying.
“For the next fight, Africa is not the right time. But at some point he 100 percent wants it,” Cunningham added.
If confirmed anytime in the future, Joshua will be following in the footsteps of former world boxing icon, Mohammed Ali, whose “Rumble In The Jungle” win over George Foreman in 1974 in the then Zaire, present-day DRC, is labeled an all-time classic.
Back in 2016, Joshua openly spoke about his desire to stage a fight in West Africa – between Ghana and Nigeria. “Yeah, definitely. It’s been done before. It made massive news and was history. I think that would be massive. I would not turn that opportunity down,” he said at the time.
“I’d like it to be in Nigeria or Ghana. Either one is good for me, anywhere. There’s no way I wouldn’t fight there. It would be class, the whole history of it. It would work.”
Joshua has traditionally fought in the United Kingdom. His first bout outside was his shock loss to Andy Ruiz early this year. He reclaimed all his titles in a rematch dubbed “Clash on the Dunes” staged in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
His team confirmed that among his most likely opponents are Kubrat Pulev or Oleksandr Usyk in that order. The venue of choice is Tottenham’s new stadium in London, they further disclosed.
According to reports, Anthony Joshua expressed interest in representing Nigeria at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing but wasn’t selected. He has since climbed the ladder to be the unified World Heavyweight Boxing Champion under the British flag.
Born Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua and aged 30. AJ is a British professional boxer. He is a two-time unified heavyweight champion, having held the WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO titles since December 2019 and previously between 2016 and June 2019.
