Anthony Joshua is targeting a homecoming fight at Tottenham Hotspur’s new 60,000-capacity stadium.
The 30-year-old boxed Mexico’s Andy Ruiz Jr. in Saudi Arabia, regaining the WBA Super, IBF, IBO and WBO heavyweight crowns.
Joshua was dealt a crushing blow to his status as the number one worldwide boxing star back in June when, at Madison Square Garden in New York, he was dropped four times before being stopped by ‘The Destroyer’.
But he managed to get revenge last Saturday night at the Diriyah Arena in Diriyah, exclusively live on Sky Sports Box Office and DAZN, after picking up an unanimous decision with scorecards of 119-109, 118-110 and 118-110.
After becoming a two-time world champion, Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn have revealed they are in active discussions with bosses at the Premier League club to host the next outing there.
‘AJ’ has a mandatory with the WBO in the shape of Oleksandr Usyk, the Ukrainian former undisputed cruiserweight king, which must take place by June 4, 2020, but the IBF are likely to call the former Olympic champion to face their number one, Kubrat Pulev of Bulgaria, first.
“Tottenham is a nice new stadium for a UK fight,” said Hearn, who has previously staged Joshua fights at Wembley Stadium in London and at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, after the fight. “We’ve got to look at it. There are a lot of options internationally but he does want to box back in the UK.
“Wembley does not look great, date-wise. We have spoken to Spurs about doing it and they were very keen to host the Ruiz fight but the dates did not work out.
“They are very keen again and it would be a nice London stadium to do it in.”
Joshua was last seen on UK soil in September 2018 when he ousted Alexander Povetkin at the aforementioned Wembley Stadium.
And he is excited about the prospect of fighting at the High Road venue which was only opened back in April.
“It would be mega,” said Joshua, whose first amateur club isn’t far away. “Looking at home many people came out here shows there is still a big interest in the heavyweight division, especially now we are taking the belts back.
“To defend them back on home soil, I think would be big news. It would be better against another Brit but, if not, I will fight my mandatory and crack on that way.”
