Former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder 43-2-1 (42) believes his long overdue bout against two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua 26-3 (23) is all but inevitable.
American Wilder, 38, will be the main support to Joshua when he takes on New Zealand’s former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker 33-3 (23) at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.
Britain’s Joshua, 34, will headline against once-beaten Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin 26-1 (14).
If both Wilder and Joshua come through their bouts unscathed, they are expected to finally meet in the ring back in Saudi Arabia early next year.
“That’s the biggest fight in the world,” Wilder told Sky Sports. “Now the moment has come where it’s the closest that it’s ever been in history right now. The closest that it’s ever been.
“I’m excited to say that. I’m not 100 percent sure that it’s going to happen. There’s a lot of things that has gone on, a lot of things that has been done.
“You can’t be 100 percent until that bell rings and that first punch has been thrown.”
Talks between the two camps have been on and off over the years but the deal has never been consummated.
“It’s been that way for a very long time. That fight, it’s a situation where it’s been hot and cold and every time the talks happened, it always gets back hot and then somehow it would die back down, it don’t happen,” Wilder said.
“If I said I wasn’t frustrated I would be lying. It definitely has been a frustrating time and moment for me.
“In my eyes you’ve got one fighter that really, really wants it and then on the other side you’ve got another fighter that don’t want it equally as bad as the other.”
Wilder’s excitement about facing Joshua will all be for nought if he doesn’t get past the 31-year-old Parker. He has boxed less than a round in the past two years while Parker has fought three bouts already this calendar year alone.
“You definitely don’t want to take anyone for granted,” he said. “You don’t want to look past anyone. I’m not looking past Joseph. There are a lot of talks about other things that’s not related to him and I want people to understand I’m not looking past him.
“Sometimes it’s okay to look through a fighter. It’s just like window shopping you’re going to the mall and you see that nice outfit or shoes or anything that you want, you’re just window shopping right until it’s time to be able to get it.
“So I’m window shopping but I’m not looking past him.
“Right now it’s about Joseph Parker and me getting him out the way and then we’ll see what happens from that point on.”
