Anthony Joshua remains on course to realise his ambition of fighting in Las Vegas, having finally secured a United States visa despite his previous drugs conviction. The IBF heavyweight champion, who is scheduled to fight Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley Stadium on April 29, had been in doubt about his chances of fighting in Las Vegas following his 2011 arrest in England for possessing cannabis and intent to supply the drug.
He was suspended from the Team GB boxing squad and sentenced to a 12-month community order and 100 hours' unpaid work. Despite the prospect of a crowd of 90,000 attending his April date with Klitschko, it is the thought of the bright lights of Vegas that Joshua has been seduced by.
Joshua, 27, who recently visited New York with Klitschko to promote April's fight, said: "I had to go to the embassy like everyone else, queue up and wait around all day. I had to get a lawyer to get all the paperwork done, so it was a long process, but we got there in the end.
"[Floyd] Mayweather and [Mike] Tyson did big nights there. Vegas, for me, rings more bells. Vegas is my big dream. Everyone wants to go there."
Joshua fought and won in Las Vegas as an amateur, but only after a reprimand from his coach for staying up late in casinos the night before his bout.
Joshua added: "We were out in the casino the night before until about 2am. The bright lights and all that got us. Then my coach caught us and went mad. But we boxed the next day and won."
