Anthony Joshua explains why he cannot be compared with Andy Murray as Britain's top sports star

Anthony Joshua claims tennis world number one Andy Murray is way ahead of him when it comes to Britain's top sports stars.

The 27-year-old boxer sealed a victory over Ukraine's Wladimir Klitschko in front of the record post-war crowd at Wembley on 29 April. There were 90,000 fans in attendance at the home of English football.

Klitschko was floored in the fifth round and he was successful in doing the same to the Englishman in the sixth round. Joshua recovered and bounced back before flooring the 41-year-old twice in the 11th round. The London 2012 Olympic gold medalist's latest success over Klitschko will go down as one of the best fights in boxing history.

Joshua became the new unified WBA, IBF and IBO heavyweight champion after defeating the veteran fighter. Murray, on the other hand, has won three Grand Slams in the last decade and is the current world number one in tennis. He has been among the top four players in the sport for the last decade.

"Andy Murray? Compare me to what he's done? Nah, he's been doing it for a lot longer and at a higher level. I've only just arrived," Joshua explained, as quoted by the Mirror.

"He's been doing it for a long time so big respect to him. That's what I say, he's done it for a long time so he definitely deserves the credit he receives because of how long he's been in the sport.

"I've met Andy a few times and he's a big boxing fan. I think he will have enjoyed watching my fight wherever he was in the world."

Joshua's latest victory over Klitschko saw the British fighter extend his record to 19 wins in 19 fights. He also revealed receiving calls from Dr Dre and Elton John to wish him luck, prior to his fight against Klitschko.

"I was baffled and shocked. It's just inspirational. I thought 'how am I speaking to Dr Dre?' We spoke to Elton John as well. He sent a message, saying he would like to speak to me to wish me good luck. He's a Watford man too," he said.

"That felt surreal, Elton John wanting to talk to me. He's had to cancel some shows because he's been ill, but he was going to buy the pay-per-view and watch it. I started laughing when he said that and said 'no illegal streams I hope!'."