Wednesday 25 February 2015 12:45, UK
Anthony Joshua would like to fight twice in April if his back injury heals sufficiently.
The Olympic gold medallist has been rehabilitating a stress fracture in his back that forced him to withdraw from a January bout with Kevin Johnson.
But the undefeated Joshua wants his 11th professional contest against Johnson rescheduled for April 25 at London’s O2 Arena - and even wants to sneak in another fight on April 4 in Newcastle.
"For me, that's where my mind is - but my coaches and physios are gauging it," Joshua told Sky Sports.
"We've got April 25 but there's so many shows so if we don't go to Newcastle, we've got London. If I can do, I'll do both in one month."
The 25-year-old is training again following the injury that halted his impressive progress but remains wary of further setbacks.
We’ve got April 25 but there’s so many shows so if we don’t go to Newcastle we’ve got London. If I can do, I’ll do both in one month.
Time out
"It was a serious injury so I took some time out," he added. "I'm managing it properly now so I'm back in the gym. We're not going overboard because we don't want it to happen again but we're managing it - I'm happy to be back punching and trying to plan seven weeks ahead, but we'll see how things go.
"It was frustrating, of course, because we had so much momentum. But now I'm back in the gym - I was frustrated which is why I wanted to get back. I've got that fire again and I'm raring to go.
"My coaches are putting the breaks on here and there, so we're in the stage of learning, going back to basics and not rushing too much. It's good to go back to basics and polishing off where I left off."
Joshua was one of the fighers who turned up in force as part of Lee Purdy's benefit dinner, following the news he has been forced to retire due to a serious eye injury. There will be more on Ringside, on Thursday.
You can hear more from Anthony Joshua on this week's Toe 2 Toe podcast, which you can download or listen to at skysports.com/podcasts/toe-2-toe
