Anthony Joshua Says He Wants to Join WWE After Boxing Because of Muhammad Ali

Heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua divulged Thursday that he's interested in doing something with WWE in the future. 

Joshua was asked about the possibility of getting involved in professional wrestling during an interview with Alternative Sport, and he expressed excitement about working with WWE in some capacity once his boxing career is over (beginning at the 11:15 mark):

"I'm gonna do WWE because that's what Muhammad Ali done," Joshua said. "So I'm gonna do WWE."

Ali is considered by many to be not only the greatest boxer of all time in terms of skill level but the most flamboyant and entertaining as well.

Because of that, it was only natural that Ali dipped his toe into the professional wrestling waters on a couple of occasions.

In 1976, Ali had a confrontation with Gorilla Monsoon at a WWE (then known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation) in Philadelphia. Later that same month, Ali and Japanese wrestling legend Antonio Inoki faced each other on a card called The War of the Worlds in Tokyo.

Ali's most famous involvement with wrestling may have been his selection as the special guest referee for the main event of WrestleMania I in 1985, which pitted Hulk Hogan and Mr. T against "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff.

While Ali is the best-known boxer of all time, he isn't the only one to make a successful transition to wrestling. Mike Tyson was involved in a huge angle with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 14 and Floyd Mayweather Jr. faced Big Show at WrestleMania 24.

More recently, heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury had a match for WWE in 2019 as part of the Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia.

Along with Fury, Joshua is one of the biggest boxing stars in the world right now, and bringing him into the fold would be huge for WWE.

Joshua is 24-1 in his career with 22 knockouts, and at just 31 years of age, he is still very much in his prime.

He has the size, look and personality needed to be a big deal in WWE, and if Joshua is serious about his interest, there is little doubt that WWE will attempt to pursue him at some point.

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