Anthony Joshua aims for early finish against Dillian Whyte

Anthony Joshua

Anthony Joshua has dismissed suggestions he has been given an easy ride since turning professional and is aiming for another early finish when he fights Dillian Whyte on Saturday.

Olympic champion Joshua, 26, faces Whyte for the vacant British heavyweight title at London's O2 Arena.

"I don't want to go many rounds. If I can knock him out in the first round, beautiful," Joshua told BBC Sport.

"I'll stand over him laughing, for talking all that rubbish about me."

Whyte turned his back on Joshua at the weigh-in

Whyte, weighing in at 17st 9lb, turned his back on Joshua (17st 7lb) while Spike O'Sullivan landed a kiss on Chris Eubank Junior as the top-of-the-bill fighters hit the scales.

Joshua, whose Commonwealth belt is also at stake, has won all 14 of his professional fights inside three rounds, leading Whyte to suggest he has yet to face "a young, live opponent".

But Joshua is already looking forward to a potential clash with Britain's former world heavyweight champion David Haye, who returns in the new year.

"Some time, down the line, our paths will cross - whatever it's for. You've got two great athletes," he said.

Londoner Whyte, who beat Joshua in the amateur ranks in 2009, has also called his Watford rival "a scumbag and a fake".

But Joshua described their previous meeting and Whyte's attempts to goad him as "irrelevant".

"He's trying to get me to take my eye off the ball and abandon my game plan," said Joshua. "But it's not going to affect me.

"I have trained for a long fight. I am looking to box clever, pick my shots and break him down.

"He's capable of taking me past three rounds, but that will be the achievement he takes from the fight - he'll be the man that took me past three rounds.

"When I turned pro, [Britain's former heavyweight world champion] Lennox Lewis said to me, 'Forget what you did as an amateur, you are a pro now.' I take that attitude into this fight.

"He [Whyte] has said that I have only fought old men. But I don't see any champions on his resume.

"I hear the same thing every time, that I haven't boxed anyone yet.

"When I beat a young and hungry guy like Dillian, the next opponent will have to come up with something else."

Whyte, 27, is unbeaten in 16 pro fights, with 13 knockouts. He is trained by Johnathon Banks, who was in Wladimir Klitschko's corner when the Ukrainian lost his world heavyweight titles to Tyson Fury in November.

Former British champion and world title contender Dereck Chisora is appearing on the undercard and could fight the winner of Joshua-Whyte next year.