Anthony Joshua could face Deontay Wilder on the same card that will feature the undisputed heavyweight world title fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia.
Talks for former two-time unified heavyweight champion Joshua 26-3 (23) to face former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder 43-2-1 (42) have been ongoing for months with a deal for the fight to take place seemingly no closer to being made now than when negotiations first began.
But with the news late last month that current WBC champion Fury 33-0-1 (24) is set to face WBA, WBO and IBF champion Usyk 21-0 (14) on a date to be determined, there is apparently renewed interest in the heavyweight doubleheader.
“They want to put Usyk-Fury, Joshua-Wilder on the same night. That might not happen until April,” Joshua said at the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
“When Fury gets [through] Ngannou, it is going to be late October, early November, so I doubt he will now prepare of Usyk and fight in December, it’s too short.
“So the next window will probably be in March-April, so that’s probably when the undisputed fight will potentially happen. Then obviously what we are being told is they want to make it a mega card and they like the sound of Joshua v Wilder on the same card as well.”
Fury will next be in action against boxing debutant and former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in a 10-round non-title bout in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on October 28.
Joshua is two months removed from his seventh-round knockout of late replacement Robert Helenius in London. He wants to box again before the end of the year.
“It won’t be a championship fighter – which is Usyk and Fury,” Joshua said. “It won’t be none of them guys and I am not too sure about the Wilder situation.”
Joshua reflected on the way things have changed in boxing since he first turned professional a decade ago. Back then, the 34-year-old says, there was a clear path of progression as you worked your way into position to land the big money fight.
But Joshua says these days boxers are simply chasing the big bucks and will go wherever they have to to make the most money.
“It feels like a land grab at the moment,” he said. “Some fighters want to maximise their revenue. When I first started, you start, you build up your record, you fight and then you fight the big fights.
“But it is like, ‘Where can we get the most money for the fight?’ And they want to go to Saudi Arabia so they are waiting for the undisputed fight. For my career, I have got to stay busy. And in terms of an opponent for December we have got to find the right opponent.”
