Anthony Joshua eyes £40m unification fight with Tyson Fury and a 'decade of dominance'

Anthony Joshua is eyeing "a decade of dominance" in the heavyweight division after winning the IBF world title on Saturday night (9 April). The Olympic gold medal-winning star won the belt in only his 16th fight as a professional, knocking out American southpaw Charles Martin inside two rounds, and Joshua hopes the victory represents another chapter in a long-running success story.

Since the bout at London's O2 Arena, Joshua has been touted as a potential opponent for a number of the division's biggest names, including fellow Britons David Haye and Tyson Fury. The Watford-born fighter admits he is eyeing long-term success in boxing's glamour weight category.

"I want to go until I'm 35 — I want to maintain this for a decade," said 26-year-old star said in the aftermath of his latest victory. "I think unifying the titles is possible by the end of 2017. I'm not getting carried away, but I'm slowly building towards it. There's ­going to be some tough nights ahead. Let's make the most of this now and see what happens when someone really pushes me."

Joshua is now targeting some money-spinning fights against the best fighters in the heavyweight division, which could include a £40m ($56.4m) unification showdown against double-belt holder Fury, according to The Telegraph.

"Larry Holmes had it hard, Muhammad Ali had it hard, and Joe Frazier too ... and they were the elite of the game," Joshua reflected. "I've got one of the belts – that's cool. Now I want to start adding the big names to my record, so I can silence these boys. That means fighting the likes of Tyson Fury, David Price, Dereck Chisora, David Haye.

"Beat all these guys, they can't say anything no more and then I'll move on to the likes of ­Deontay Wilder and all the other challengers abroad."

Meanwhile, Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn recently revealed he could make the first defence of his IBF title on 9 July - the same night as the Tyson Fury and Wladimir Klitschko rematch in Manchester.

"This is only the beginning, he's got aspirations to unify all the belts, and he will," Hearn said. "We've got a little something planned for 9 July, maybe in a national stadium in Wembley. Get ready for that. He's going to go through everybody."