Anthony Joshua brutally knocked Kubrat Pulev out in the ninth round of their world heavyweight championship fight at The SSE Arena, Wembley, on Saturday night.
Joshua floored Pulev heavily on three occasions, twice in the final round, and ended the fight with a vicious right hand to retain his IBF, WBA and WBO titles.
The explosive performance from Joshua would have demanded the attention of Tyson Fury – they remain on a collision course to decide an undisputed champion in 2021.
Undefeated WBC champion Fury holds the only major belt outside of Joshua’s grip and a meeting between them would be the biggest match in world boxing – after delivering this thrilling knockout in front of a crowd of 1,000 people plus boxing great Floyd Mayweather, Joshua moved a step closer to making it a reality.
His first fight since avenging a shock defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr a year ago would have ended explosively in the third round had his challenger Pulev not possessed a warrior-like determination to continue when he was felled, but there was no escaping the eventual knockout.
The fight that the boxing world now craves is Joshua vs Fury – they each have other challengers circling, Oleksandr Usyk and Deontay Wilder respectively – but the two Brits putting every heavyweight belt on the line would be an historic occasion.
Fury has since reacted to Joshua’s victory over Pulev and was scathing in his criticism of his fellow Brit.
“He got asked if he wants the fight and he went around the bushes,” said Fury on social media.
“I want the fight. I want the fight next. I will knock him out inside three rounds!”
Joshua had previously told Sky Sports: “Whoever has got the belt, I want the belt. If that is Tyson Fury, let it be!”
Fury’s US-based promoter, Top Rank’s Bob Arum, said: “It looks like the stage is set for the biggest heavyweight championship fight since Ali-Frazier in 1971, when Fury meets Joshua for the undisputed crown.
“We at Top Rank will start on Monday working to put that fight together.”
