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Don’t rematch Luis Ortiz, fight me, Anthony Joshua begs Wilder

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Anthony Joshua has urged Deontay Wilder not to “rob the fans” but agree to an undisputed world heavyweight title fight.

Joshua wants to face his fellow champion in a battle for every major belt if he comes through Saturday night’s defence of the IBF, WBA and WBO gold against Andy Ruiz Jr.

Joshua has now appealed to the WBC heavyweight champion to reverse his decision to fight Luis Ortiz next.

Joshua told a press conference on Thursday:

“Whatever he is doing with his career, good luck to him. However, I am a fan of the sport. I have tried to challenge all the best fighters out there, bar one or two. I am reaching out to them.

“Let’s not rob the fans of a good fight. I am a fan of this sport and I feel like I’m robbing myself of a good fight.

“Good luck to whatever he is doing. But if he wants to come and see us – because he hasn’t announced a date or a venue – then we can have a conversation.”

Joshua and Wilder are unbeaten in a combined 64 fights, 62 of which have been won by knockouts.

WuzupNigeria reports that Wilder had, on Tuesday, announced that a deal was reached to face Ortiz in a rematch. The fight is being targeted for a date in September.

The announcement was a crushing blow to the handlers of IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO champion Anthony Joshua.

According to Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn, their entire focus for next week was going to be the negotiations for a potential unification with Wilder.

But that won’t happen this year.

And Wilder was 100% confident that a showdown with Joshua would never materialize in 2019.

Joshua will defend his titles on June 1, against Andy Ruiz at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

“I knew none of these major fights were going to happen this year, so why not go ahead and get Ortiz II in there?” Wilder said to The Los Angeles Times.

“This was the perfect time to finish [Ortiz] in a better fashion, and better than to wait on ‘this major fight.’ … I do not trust anything that [Joshua and his team] say. And who else is fighting Ortiz? “

“The ones who hate this, I understand that because they want Wilder-Joshua. Everyone is impatient. They want what they want, but knowing I’m the most exciting heavyweight in the world, you’ll still watch the [Ortiz] fight, no matter what, because I bring the drama and the pain. You know Ortiz is going to get up for this big fight. We saw it with me. Every fighter who goes against me gives it their best because they’re going in there with a killer. You only get exciting fights, and that’s what I want to bring to the world.”

The first time around, in March 2018, Wilder stopped Ortiz in the tenth round. But Ortiz came very close to stopping Wilder in the seventh. Wilder recovered and eventually dropped Ortiz two times in the tenth for a stoppage win.

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