Deontay Wilder 43-2-1 (42) says he will still press ahead with a fight against Anthony Joshua 26-3 (23) even if his heavyweight rival loses his next bout.
Former two-time WBA, WBO and IBF champion Joshua is set to take on once-beaten Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin 26-1 (14) at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on December 23.
On the same card former WBC champion Wilder will face ex-WBO ruler Joseph Parker 33-3 (23).
American Wilder and Brit Joshua have long been on a collision course and it seemed almost certain they would fight this year. That didn’t happen, but their upcoming bouts are designed to be a precursor to the highly-anticipated fight.
“Win, lose or draw, he still gets it,” Wilder said on The Last Stand Podcast with Brian Custer. “Of course if we both win it makes it that more interesting and better on paper.
“I think he is going to win and I’m definitely going to win, then we can finally get this fight once and for all. That is the plan and everything is moving forward with the plan.
“Every time my name comes up he goes the other way, he’s been like this for almost a decade now because of the fear that Joshua has towards me. It’s because of what I’m capable of doing in that ring. We’ve seen it; men lie and women lie but numbers don’t lie. The proof is in the pudding and I’ve displayed this over and over again.
“It’s a thing that I understand but I don’t understand, you see something that can potentially happen and this man shows it over and over again. I understand that part but what I don’t understand is, you are a fighter bro. This is what you signed up to do, what did you think it was going to be about?”
Both Joshua and Wilder face potential banana peels in their upcoming fights. Wallin gave current WBC titleholder and two-time Wilder conqueror Tyson Fury 34-0-1 (24) all he could handle in their bout four years ago, opening up cuts on Fury that later required 47 stitches to close. He is talking a good game leading up to the Joshua fight. It will be the third bout for the 34-year-old Joshua since April.
New Zealand’s Parker has been far more active than Wilder, boxing three times this year already for a 10-round unanimous decision win and two early knockouts. By contrast Wilder has boxed less than one round in over two years, blasting out Robert Helenius 32-5 (21) in 177 seconds in October last year.
Wilder, 38, says he has the sort of rare power that can get him over any obstacles.
“This is the hurt business, it’s what we signed up for is to be warriors,” Wilder said. “Even in training, it hurts and it’s painful. My main focus right now is doing what I need to do on December 23, I’ve got to get past Joseph Parker first and then we will talk about the future plans after that.”
