IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua believes he will take "another step towards greatness" when he meets Wladimir Klitschko in the richest bout in British boxing history.
heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua believes he will take "another step towards greatness" when he meets Wladimir Klitschko in the richest bout in British boxing history.
Joshua, 27, will defend his title and bid for the vacant WBA strap in front of a post-war record boxing crowd of 90,000 at Wembley Stadium in just his 19th professional fight.
Klitschko, 41, was unbeaten in 11 years prior to defeat to Tyson Fury in his last fight in November 2015 and says he is "obsessed" with overcoming the Briton.
"I will always stand up to the competition," said Joshua. "There is no fear at all which trembles through the body."
"You can talk about experience but even when I faced guys with less experience I took them as world championship fights. I have prepared since day one for this.
"April 29 is just another stepping stone towards greatness."
The £30m showdown between the former sparring partners has been dubbed a fight for "the history books" by Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn.
It will be expected to sell roughly a million times on pay-per-view television in the UK, is being broadcast in Germany and has achieved a rare feat in the US market as rival broadcasters Showtime and HBO will both transmit the bout.
"Only twice before have they done it - Lennox Lewis versus Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao," said Hearn.
Klitschko has already fought in the US a dozen times but Joshua, who looks destined to follow the likes of Lewis into US-based super bouts, is yet to fight professionally outside of the UK.
"He has the ultimate test," added Hearn. "A test which should come maybe after 27 or 28 fights. Why risk it now? He wants to challenge himself. Is he the guy everyone talks about as the future of boxing?"
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