ANTHONY Joshua was welcomed by applause on the stage. He stood front and center, promoting his Sept. 22 bout against Alexander Povetkin.

Even there, he couldn’t escape talk of the heavyweight he isn’t fighting.

Someone in the crowd jumped at the opportunity and shouted, “AJ, we want Wilder!”

“Let them train to be a fighter and fight (Deontay) Wilder,” Joshua told AP. “It’s easy talking about it. It’s another thing doing.”

But with his hands on his hips, Joshua looked in the direction of the outburst and stoically mouthed, “Same.”

Meanwhile, Povetkin was standing off to the side. Povetkin and Joshua were both in the West Village on Tuesday for the launch party of DAZN, a global sports streaming service. Its first event is their fight.

Povetkin is partially the reason why Joshua (21-0, 20 knockouts) isn’t fighting Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) this year.

In June, the World Boxing Association ordered Joshua to fight Povetkin (34-1, 24 KOs) or have his title stripped away.

He signed, ending his chances of a Wilder-Joshua fight in 2018. Wilder said if Joshua wanted the fight to happen, it would be happening.

“Most definitely he could have gotten an exemption for this fight,” Wilder said. “That was the least of the worries right there because everyone wants it. When everyone wants it, then there’s nothing that could stand in the way of a fight of this magnitude. No possible way.

“Even when he’s announcing Povetkin, they’re talking about me. Everywhere we go, they’re talking about this fight.”

But Joshua doesn’t care what everyone wants. He said he’s following protocol.

“This career isn’t determined by what people want,” Joshua said. “It’s my career. I’ve always pulled for and done what was right for myself, which has ultimately led me to becoming a champion.” (AP)