Anthony Joshua to Face Deontay Wilder By Year’s End
Los Angeles (April 04, 2018)- “I’ll knock him spark out” were the last publicly televised words of unified heavy weight champion Anthony Joshua (21-0 20KO’s). Speaking shortly on the highly anticipated possibility of a fight with WBC champion Deontay Wilder (40-0 39KO’s), Joshua sent the United Kingdom into a frenzy with one short sentence.
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Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn is clearly making efforts to demonstrate Joshua’s desire to face Wilder is a priority. “We’re going to put together an offer this week and continue the conversations with Wilder’s team”.
Wilder is coming off the biggest win of his career stopping highly regarded Cuban heavy weight Luis Ortiz in a fight that showed the self proclaimed “Bronze Bomber” push through adversity to stop Ortiz in the 10th round. “He can’t handle me. He can’t handle my speed. He can’t handle my agility. He can’t handle my power, my angles. I’m too much for him.” Wilder said of Joshua on his Instragram story following Joshua’s first full 12 round fight after failing to knock out Joseph Parker in a fight he won handily despite not stopping Parker.
The movement to make the fight faces the expiration of Joshua’s contract with Showtime. Wilder fights on Showtime and a fight with Joshua insinuates an extension of some sort for Joshua to the network. “I spoke to StephenEspinoza to talk about mapping it out , and he said a JoshuaWilder fight works best in September or December.”
A fight in December would leave room for an interim fight for both, creating an opportunity for Joshua to debut in the United States and build the fight appropriately for the American audience.
“The question is do we have a fight in the summer and then box Wilder in December or do we go straight into the fight in September or October. That is one of the things I will be speaking with Joshua and Rob about. But the only way I think we should have an interim fight is if the Wilder fight is signed.” Said Hearn
“We want it. Joshua wants it bad. It’s the biggest fight in world boxing and it’s for the undisputed world championship. Nobody should be saying Joshua doesn’t want it. He wants it. Look at what he has already done in 21 fights. Nobody should doubt his desire to be in these big fights.”
Considering the cancellation of Canelo vs. Golovkin, Anthony Joshua and DeontayWilder are poised to become the face of the sport and the buildup to a fight between the two could be an epic rebuilding of the heavy weight division in the US.
