Anthony Joshua has said that he is "positive" of eventually getting an undisputed world title fight, assuming he can beat Oleksandr Usyk.
The Watford native was set to fight Tyson Fury this summer in Saudi Arabia, until a legal issue forced his rival to instead take a trilogy bout with Deontay Wilder, which takes place in three weeks' time.
In the meantime, Joshua was ordered to face mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk, who he will take on this Saturday at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London.
And speaking ahead of the bout with Usyk, Joshua has said that he expects he will still get a chance at an undisputed fight, whether it be against Fury or Wilder.
"I could say 'nah, I won't rest easy until I'm undisputed'," Joshua admitted during an interview with DAZN.
"But am I going to let it haunt me for the rest of my life until I'm 45 swinging my arms going 'undisputed, undisputed'? It's done, you have to live with certain things.
"I'd have to live with it, but I doubt that will be the case, I'm positive it will happen but I have to get past my next challenger."
Joshua doesn't see himself sticking around boxing all that long, having already scaled the heights at amateur and professional level as an Olympic gold medalist and a unified world champion.
He's 31-years-old, and doesn't see himself still fighting past the Paris Olympics in 2024, saying that he measures his career timeframes by those four-year cycles.
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"I spoke to my dad yesterday," Joshua said. "He told me to get the undisputed championship and leave the game.
"I'm more of a time-period man, I look at Olympic cycles, like look at 2008-2012.
"I had my first fight end of November 2008, and within that Olympic cycle I found boxing and I got to become an Olympic champion.
"So, that was my first Olympic cycle, then 2012-2016 I turned professional and won my first world title.
"Then 2016-2020, didn't happen so it was 2021, and now I'm looking at Paris, that'll take me to 35 or 36 and it's like I'm thinking to myself 'am I going to be like Povetkin, Klitschko, Foreman, Hopkins and continue past 36 into my 40s?
"I'm looking right now at dominating this Olympic cycle, four years of pure domination, it's like the amateurs I'm going around the world representing Great Britain.
"I've got to dominate around the world for the next four years."
Joshua will have to wait after Saturday's fight, should he emerge victorious, on the outcome of the October 9 meeting between Fury and Wilder.
Fury is a heavy favourite having dismantled the American in their rematch, and outboxing him the first time around, but it remains to be seen if his long layoff will have hurt him overall.
Regardless of the winner, Joshua will likely look to make an undisputed fight next, with no promotional or contractual issues getting in the way of a bout.
