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Anthony Joshua vows to make Wladimir Klitschko pay for 'last hurrah'

It is already being talked about as being one of the biggest fights in British boxing history with a record-breaking attendance, but Anthony Joshua is trying to remain calm about his clash with Wladimir Klitschko on April 29.

Joshua will face Klitschko at Wembley Stadium in London it was announced from the ring after he predictably stopped American challenger Eric Molina in three rounds.

It was another impressive display of Joshua's power and precision -- but now for the harder tests.

And Klitschko, the former champion and world No. 1, was there to see Britain's Joshua floor Molina with a right before forcing the stoppage in a second defence of his IBF world heavyweight title.

The WBA belt is also expected to be on the line against Ukrainian Klitschko, who ruled as champion for nine-and-a-half years until losing the IBF, WBA and WBO belts on points to Joshua's countryman Tyson Fury a year ago.

Promoter Eddie Hearn hopes a record-breaking 90,000 fans will be at Wembley but 2012 Olympic gold medallist Joshua says the size of the occasion will not get to him.

"I just wanted to focus on this fight with Molina but to see Klitschko here tonight makes it real," Joshua said. "It doesn't matter whether it's 90,000 or nine people, it's the same regulations and rules and it's to win.

"I"m going to box Klitschko for 12 rounds, make him miss and make him pay, and if the knockout comes I will be able to say I did something no one else did.

"But I'm not going in there to say I'm going to knock Klitschko out in two rounds.

"It is the perfect time for me to move up another step and contest my heavyweight championship belt against one of the legends of our sport."

Joshua's sixth professional fight -- all 83 seconds of it -- took place at Wembley Stadium on the undercard of Carl Froch-George Groves, but many of the 80,000 had not arrived by the time he was in action early in the evening.

The world super-middleweight title rematch between Froch and Groves attracted Britain's biggest attendance for a boxing event since the Second World War but Hearn says Joshua-Klitschko will be bigger.

"We're looking to go to 90,000, we need to speak to the mayor of London Mr [Sadiq] Khan about transport around the venue," Hearn told reporters.

"Every time he [Joshua] fights he could do 30,000 so I'm confident we will do that lot. They are at different stages of their careers: the hottest prospect in boxing against a legend.

"There will be no step back now. Once you've fought Klitschko you can't go back to doing voluntaries or mandatory defences. It will be very hard to maintain all the belts and after he fights Wladimir Klitschko I think it will be [WBC champion] Deontay Wilder."

Joshua sparred with Klitschko early in his professional career and the Briton says there will be no trash-talk in the build-up.

"There are definitely different breeds of animals in this sport but we're all predators, we're all lions, and we've come together to represent boxing and there's mutual respect," Joshua said.

And Joshua does not see beating Klitschko as being the defining moment of his career after registering his 18th consecutive knockout from as many professional fights.

"It's just another fight, man" Joshua said. "You can't build yourself up and get carried away. If I beat Klitschko, they will say you've got to beat David Haye now, or Luis Ortiz.

"I will have to prove it again and again and again. I just have to keep going, and going and going.

"In order to beat Klitschko I need to go to another level. It's my job to make them look easy, you just have to find your way. I train properly and hard work pays off sometimes."

Klitschko, 41 in March, has more experience of the big stage and despite his age and inactivity -- he will have been out of the ring 17 months -- Joshua says he is still dangerous.

"I've fought no one like Klitschko, that's what makes it interesting," Joshua said. "It will be a different sort of fight to Molina.

"He's a sharp opponent for sure. Look at Bernard Hopkins, he's 52 next month and he's fighting next weekend, so you can't write him off. That's what good living and lifestyle can do for you.

"It's risk versus reward. People wouldn't call my name out if there was as much money on the table as there is.

"There's money and titles on the line. All he has to do is get in the ring and he's hit the jackpot, one way or another.

"I don't think he needs the dough but everyone needs an extra few quid. How long is he going to be around for? This is his last hurrah."