Anthony Joshua: I'm not bothered who I face next because whoever it is, they will get knocked out

Anthony Joshua (r) is not worried about who his manager Eddie Hearn finds to fight him in his IBF heavyweight title defence. Photo / Getty Images.

Anthony Joshua is not worried about who his manager Eddie Hearn finds to fight him in his IBF heavyweight title defence because he believes there is no opponent he cannot beat by knockout - including Joseph Parker.

The 26-year-old Englishman is undefeated after 17 professional fights - all won by knockout - and is in training for his 18th at the Manchester Arena on November 26.

An announcement is set to be made on September 26 to reveal who he will fight next but the Brit is not giving it much thought.

Asked if whoever he faces will suffer the same fate as his other 17 opponents by knockout, Joshua said: 'I think so. It's what I train for. It's my job. Anybody can get it.
'It's heavyweight boxing. Anyone can get it. Anyone is able to get hurt and knocked out. It would be silly of me to say no.

'What you speak into the universe is what you attract so I'm going to tell you is of course I can knock out any heavyweight in the world.

'I'll be ready.'

Hearn last week said he was struggling to pin down an opponent for Joshua because they were all wanting 'a fortune' to get in the ring.

Bulgaria's Kubrat Pulev is tipped to get the nod with Parker set to fight on the undercard and perhaps face Joshua next year.

But Joshua is not in constant contact with Hearn to find out the latest.

'He mentions a name. I'm like, "No problem". There's not a lot to talk about,' Joshua said.

'I'm not like, "How does he look? Can we fight this guy? Why don't we..." That's not my interest. "Eddie, who we fighting?" "We've got this guy". "OK, cool, no problem". I just get on with it.

'He's a normal geezer, just like you, just like me. He just has a job to do. He's a really nice guy, business-minded, very intelligent, comes from a good family household, his dad was a promoter.

'He's done a good job to be part of bringing boxing back to where it is. He's done amazing things.'

Over the English summer, Joshua worked as a pundit for BBC during the Olympics in Brazil and took inspiration from USA swimmer Michael Phelps, who gave him advice.
'He has been through a lot,' Joshua said. 'The good and the bad. He's achieved a lot. I spoke to him. He told me to be dedicated.

'How he approached 2012 was a lot different to how he approached 2016, and you could see the difference in results. Get yourself away and grind.'