Anthony Joshua stated his eagerness to fight Deontay Wilder at Wembley next April after overcoming a major scare at the London venue to emphatically defeat Alexander Povetkin.

Joshua was troubled by Povetkin early on and suffered a bloodied nose in the opening round, but ultimately retained his WBA, IBF, IBO and WBO heavyweight world title belts in style with a brutal seventh-round stoppage on Saturday.

The champion delivered a stunning flurry of punches to ensure Povetkin was stopped for the first time in his career.

In a post-fight interview in the ring, Joshua initially suggested his fans should decide his next opponent, before acknowledging there is one man he wants most of all.

"My number one would be Wilder," he said. "That's it. Let's not talk about number two, number three. Wilder, that's it, yeah."

Speaking to DAZN, Joshua added: "Ultimately, we're two fighters, two champions in the same division at the same time. So at the end of the day, we have to fight each other. It would be silly of us not to."

Prior to that decisive response, Joshua - who is now 22-0 with 21 knockouts - insisted he does not care who prevails in the December 1 contest between the unbeaten Wilder and Tyson Fury.

"I'm not too fussed who wins, to be honest," said the Briton. "I only concentrate on myself.

"But good luck to both of them and may the champion bring himself to the UK, let's have a good dust-up."

There was significant clamour for a Joshua-Wilder fight earlier this year, but negotiations failed to bring a resolution, with both camps critical of the other.

Fury was angered that Joshua only mentioned Wilder and Dillian Whyte as potential opponents for the April date in 2019.

Joshua explained that Whyte has done more to earn that opportunity than Fury.

"If I had a pecking order it would be Wilder, Dillian (Whyte) and then Fury," Joshua told talkSPORT.

"Dillian deserves it more than Fury because he's been consistent and Wilder because he's the champion."