Guido Vianello wants Anthony Joshua or another top heavyweight

Guido Vianello is back on track after losing two of his last four fights – and he wants that track to keep taking him forward.

Vianello, a 6-foot-6 heavyweight from Italy, turned pro a couple of years after the 2016 Olympics, where he was defeated in his opening match of the tournament. He won his initial seven pro bouts before being held to a draw against Kingsley Ibeh in October 2020, then notched another three victories before suffering his first defeat, stopped on cuts in seven rounds by Jonathan Rice in January 2023.

After two bounce-back wins, Vianello received the short end of a split decision against Efe Ajagba this April. So when he stepped in the ring earlier this month against Arslanbek Makhmudov – who had also suffered a recent defeat – both fighters truly needed the victory if they were to keep writing their own story as opposed to being written off.

And it was Vianello who inked the “W,” shutting Makhmudov’s eye and scoring an eighth-round technical knockout. That brought Vianello to 13-2-1 (11 KOs).

Vianello needed that victory not only for his career, but for his confidence.

“I really know now who I am,” Vianello said in a recent interview with Louis Hart of Boxing Social. “I can fight with everybody. I need just one name and three months, and I can fight with all the heavyweights.”

Vianello’s goal is the same for pretty much every fighter who achieves at least a moderate amount of success.

“I really want to become a world champion,” he said. “I can’t wait to have a new fight and train for that.”

The first name that came out of Vianello’s mouth was former heavyweight title Anthony Joshua, who will fight Daniel Dubois for the IBF title on Sept. 21 in Wembley Stadium in London.

“We have many good heavyweights now, so there are a lot of good names,” Vianello said. “Let’s see who gives me the best chance, because it’s just about giving me the possibility to fight with a top name. Now I’m taking a good ranking, so I want someone better than me. Let’s see who wants to fight with me. I am ready.”

Vianello was unranked by the four major sanctioning bodies entering the Mahkhmudov bout. That’s very likely to change given that Makhmudov was listed at No. 9 by the WBC and No. 15 by the IBF as of mid-August.

Follow David Greisman on Twitter @FightingWords2. His book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.