Anthony Joshua gave a brutal one-word response after being asked whether he was sad to see Deontay Wilder being knocked out in potentially his final fight.
Zhilei Zhang knocked out Wilder in the fifth round of their contest, as Frank Warren’s Queensbury completed a clean sweep of 5-0 against Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, June 1.
According to the Daily Mail of London, If all had gone well, there had been talk of a fight between Joshua and Wilder in September of this year.
However, Wilder’s defeat to Zhang has appeared to ruin plans for a fight between the two heavyweights.
Asked whether he was sad to see Wilder being knocked out, Joshua simply responded: “No.”
Then asked who he wanted to fight next, AJ also told DAZN: “They are all going to get a seeing to.”
Joshua is now tipped to fight Daniel Dubois, who stopped Filip Hrgovic, or Zhang.
For Wilder, the defeat has brought up the conversation of retirement, and Joshua later told DAZN that the Bronze Bomber should not be too hasty in his decision to quit.
He said: “I just look at and say, “If you want to do it, do it’, it’s not a big deal boxing if you want to fight, fight on, and if you don’t want to do it, don’t do it anymore, it’s just where your heart’s at.
“He went in there against a good fighter in Zhilei, he’s an Olympian, Zhilei, people forget that, he’s come through, he’s got a great style.
“I fought him before in the Olympics and he’s still doing what he does now, so many years on. He was in with a really good, seasoned professional with a great pedigree.
“It doesn’t matter, come again if you want, and if you don’t, you’ve got your family there, there’s another life outside of boxing for him.”
Wilder never looked to be in the fight with Zhang putting him under constant pressure throughout the fight, before the brutal knockout in the fifth round.
Before the fight, Wilder suggested that a loss to Zhang could mean the end of his career.
He told Seconds Out: “I’ve had a successful career and this is a do-or-die moment for me. And I don’t think the heavyweight division is as exciting without Deontay Wilder in it. But come Saturday night we will see. Will I prevail, will I succeed? Who knows. But Saturday night is the true answer and we are gonna see.
“This could be the end of the career. This could be the final goodbye, the farewell of Deontay Wilder — if I lose. If I win, I prevail, of course, I go on to bigger and better things.”