WBA, IBF, IBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (19-0, 19 KOs) says the UK has been sending a strong message to the United States for the last few years - with their growing number of world champions and top level fighters.

Currently, some of the world champions include Joshua, James DeGale, Lee Selby, Jamie McDonnell, George Groves, Ryan Burnett, Chris Eubank Jr., Kal Yafai and Terry Flanagan.

For years, Joshua feels the majority of the UK fighters were either disregarded or largely ignored.

But he believes everything has now changed.

For years, British boxers would cross over to the United States to chase the money. But now the tables have turned, and many American fighters are traveling to the UK to chase the money.

“I think the UK has been sending a statement for a long time.  It wasn’t so long ago that UK heavyweights or boxers weren’t getting a look. Now, all the Americans are talking about UK fighters. We’ve definitely been sending a statement over to the States for a long time," Joshua said,

Joshua is back on Saturday night, before a crowd of over 70,000 at Principality in Wales. He defends his belts against late replacement, Carlos Takam.

“I’ve never been nervous about fighting but I think this stadium is going to be different.  There’s a closed roof.  I know the energy and the atmosphere is going to be bouncing up and down off the roof and it’s going to be nothing like before.  As I said, if Saturday night is a little bit like the people today here at the public workout, it’s going to be phenomenal," Joshua said.

 “This is what fighting’s about – different styles and different types of opponents.  But the best opponent you can work on is yourself so I’ve definitely been improving myself.  I can talk about a million things I’ve been working on but at the end of the day, as soon as that first bell rings, that’s when it matters."