Dereck Chisora eyes Anthony Joshua in all British showdown

Dereck Chisora has revealed his ambition to fight WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and warned his compatriot he was ready to ‘declare war’.

The 36-year-old was due to fight Ukrainian star Oleksandr Usyk on May 23 before its suspension amid the coronavirus shutdown, while AJ is lined up to face veteran Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev once sport resumes.

Should both Britons win their respective contests, Chisora hopes it will open the way for a showdown between the pair.

He told The Sun: “Hopefully the AJ fight happens if we both win.

“I don’t know how I will approach it, we go back a long way and I have never called him out or tried to make a fight with trash talk or anything like that.

“If the fight is made I think I would just call him and say, man-to-man, ‘Get ready for war’.”

Chisora also had words of advice for close friend AJ ahead of his bout with Pulev, having lost a split decision to the Bulgarian in May 2016.

He said: “Pulev is resilient and has a hard-to-beat European style.”

Chisora’s hopes of a title shot may yet wait a little longer as Joshua has his sights on a unification bout with fellow Brit and WBC champion Tyson Fury.