Anthony Joshua has told Floyd Mayweather and Wladimir Klitschko they are ‘always welcome’ to help him prepare for his blockbuster heavyweight showdown against Tyson Fury.
WBA, IBF and WBO champion AJ’s undisputed showdown with WBC king Fury is set to be announced in the coming week after it was revealed it would take place in Saudi Arabia this summer.
And in preparation for the much-anticipated bout, boxing legend Mayweather revealed was he was looking forward to working with the Watford-born boxer.
‘I look forward to working with Joshua real soon, we talk all the time’, Mayweather told the Disruptive Entrepreneur Podcast.
‘It’s a very interesting fight. Anthony Joshua has a lot of experience and Tyson Fury as well has a lot of experience but with Anthony Joshua losing a fight [to Andy Ruiz Jr], it helped him become stronger.
‘I met Tyson Fury on a few occasions; he’s great guy and very interesting. After the fight I like to see him sing… I haven’t seen him fight a lot of times.
‘I’ve seen him fight twice, against Deontay Wilder, but it’s a very intriguing match-up. You can never say what’s going to happen in the sport of boxing. Both guys are great competitors.’
And Joshua appeared to confirm the former world champion would be working with him as he claimed he needs to be around some of the best in the history of the sport, including Klitschko, in order to raise his game even more.
Klitschko was Joshua’s 2017 opponent as he successfully defended his IBF title and won the WBA and IBO titles with an eleventh-round knock-out victory at Wembley, and there is a friendly relationship between the pair.
Regarding Mayweather’s comments, AJ told Pep Talk UK: ‘He’s a great man. To have someone like that with the boxing brain – you need to be around fighters as a boxer.
‘Footballers need to be around footballers, boxers need to be around boxers. Lions stay around lions, lions don’t hang around with sheep, do they? Good boxers need to stay around better boxers in order to get better, so I’d definitely have him.
‘I’d have George Foreman, Evander Holyfield, Roberto Duran, Tommy Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard. Mayweather, 100 per cent. And Wladimir Klitschko, he’s always welcome.
‘And it’s inspiration for the kids in this gym as well because this gym is an amateur gym for the community, so yeah it’d be good to have them down here.
‘Mayweather’s more than welcome.’
