Anthony Joshua calls out Tyson Fury after Jermaine Franklin win

Anthony Joshua wants to fight Tyson Fury next, after his victory over Jermaine Franklin this weekend.

The pro boxer took the win against Franklin on Saturday night (1 April), marking his first victory since 2020.

Although pundits have said that Joshua probably didn't give his all in the ring, it was an easy win for the former two-time world heavyweight champion.

Not long after bagging the title, Joshua was challenging Tyson Fury to take him on next.

"I try and provide for the fans, I know who the fans want - who do the fans want? They said Fury, yeah?" he said on the DAZN broadcast. "The ball is in his court."

Joshua continued: "I would be 100 per cent honoured to compete for the WBC Championship of the world.

"I stand here and say that proudly, that would be an honour."

Calling out Fury directly, he said: "Wherever you are, if you are listening, you know my management, you know my promoter, we've had dialogue before so let's continue this and hopefully we can get this done sooner rather than later. We aren't getting any younger."

Still riding the high of his win against Franklin, Joshua added: "I can't wait to get back to Texas, develop and push on because there's a bigger fight, you know how one fight leads onto another, I can't wait to get the next big fight."

Boxing fans have been asking for a Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua fight for years but, for some reason, it never really came into fruition.

But, now that Joshua is looking to re-establish himself among the heavyweight boxing title-holders, a head-to-head with Fury is exactly what he needs.

Adding on to Anthony's call-out, his promoter Eddie Hearn said on Saturday night: "AJ is going to want the biggest fights.

"Tonight was a step down from Oleksandr Usyk, but there was huge pressure.

"He ended the fight well, but like he said, they aren't getting any younger. We would be willing to entertain those conversations to go straight into a Tyson Fury fight in the summer."

In March, Hearn hinted that a fight between Joshua and Fury was likely to take place this summer.

Speaking to Sportsmail, he claimed that 'both sides had a deal finalised for a December fight', but it 'fell through'.

Though he added: "I have had talks this week with George Warren (Frank Warren's son) and fundamentally the original contract is still in place. And we all know that the timing is perfect now."

However, Frank Warren called that claim 'absolute b*****ks.'

Speaking to talkSPORT, he claimed: "George [Warren] rang [Eddie] Hearn and said, 'What's this all about?' He said he was unaware of it. I'm just telling you what he said.

"George said it was less than a 30-second conversation and we've not even discussed it with Tyson.

'Really annoyed about that because that 100 percent did not happen. 'Contracts are gonna be signed in the next week', it's just absolute b*****ks.'

So no plans drawn up just yet, by the sounds of things...