Anthony Joshua gives definitive answer to whether he's fighting Deontay Wilder next
Former world heavyweight champs Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder to fight next
Two-time world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (25-3, 22KO) has confirmed that he plans to fight fearsome puncher Deontay Wilder (43-2-1, 42KO) in December after much speculation that the duo would face off.
The 33-year-old from Watford returned to winning ways with a points victory over Jermaine Franklin on April 1 and is now eyeing up another American opponent next.
Joshua's Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn had flown to Saudi Arabia this week to sort out the details of his next fight and the British fighter has now appeared to confirm his opponent will be Wilder.
"That's what's happening," Joshua told Kay Physical when asked if a Wilder fight was on the cards. "It's public news, we're throwing it down in December."
AJ is is back to winning ways after overcoming two disappointing defeats to Oleksandr Usyk. His latest victory saw opponent Franklin only awarded three rounds on the ringside judges' cards.
The former two-time champ has only won three from his last six fights and hasn't shown any of his early aggression or killer instinct since 2017 when he had knockout wins over Wladimir Klitschko and Carlos Takam.
Alabaman Wilder is in a tough position having not fought since his own comeback win against Robert Helenius last October. The 37-year-old had just come off the back of two defeats to Tyson Fury at that point but got back to winning ways in emphatic style with a devastating first-round knockout.
"The Bronze Bomber" has previously described Joshua as his dream fight and he finally looks set to get his wish.
"We got a lot of different options right now at this moment in time. Joshua, everybody," he told IFL. "I think a lot of people is going to get that dream fight everyone wants to see."
When questioned, in typical "Gypsy King" style, Tyson Fury simply warned, "Wilder will kill him".
Roy Jones Jr. was in agreement, "I love AJ to death and I think he’s a great fighter. But his issue right now is dealing with punches coming back at him, so you don’t want to fight Wilder.
“Those punches that will be coming at you from him are different to anybody else in the division, so he’s got to go get that taken care of before he goes in front of Wilder."
BBN Editor, Tim Rickson, added his thoughts, "I'm in agreement with RJJ and Fury. If there's one fighter in the world you don't want to see Joshua in the ring with, it's Wilder. For a fighter that's not got great punch resistance and is, at present, a bit tentative, confused and gunshy, it just seems like a very bad decision to make this fight. Maybe this is why AJ is waiting until December to get back in the ring again, so that he can really get his head down and learn with Derrick James.
"However, when it comes to fight night, as soon as Wilder lands one, it's curtains for Joshua. Wilder buzzes all his opponents from the first round onwards, just look at his devastating first round annihilation of Robert Helenius, who had a lot ot knowledge and experience being Wilder's sparring partner. It was one shot and the fight was finished. I'd be worried for AJ for every second he'll be in the ring with Wilder."
There has been speculation that Joshua and Wilder's bout could form part of a four-way tournament in Saudi Arabia with Fury and Usyk also facing off on the same night. The heavyweight duo were locked in talks over a title fight earlier this year however it fell through after no agreement was found.
However, Hearn believes that it could still be possible with Fury using a mooted fight against Andy Ruiz in July as a 'warm-up'.
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