Anthony Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, has confirmed that talks for a potential bout with Deontay Wilder are back on after Wilder’s promoter, Shelly Finkel, responded to his fight proposal email and a 2023 bout between Wilder and Joshua could finally be on the cards after an initial deal publicly broke down four years ago.
Joshua is not set to make his ring return until 2023 after negotiations broke down with Tyson Fury over a highly-anticipated Battle of Britain.
A number of alternative opponents have been brought up as the 33-year-old looks to get his career back on track.
Wilder’s manager Finkel recently admitted ignoring Hearn’s offer concerning a fight against Joshua. The ‘Bronze Bomber’ instead forced a brutal first-round stoppage against Robert Helenius after returning from two defeats of his own against WBC champion Fury.
Hearn has finally received a reply from Wilder’s camp as he plots a titanic heavyweight clash between the Bronze Bomber and his star fighter Joshua. The promoter is mapping out Joshua’s route to a potential world title fight after his damaging consecutive defeats to the unbeaten Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk.
“I actually sent Shelly Finkel an email back in August to talk about a deal and he actually replied to me yesterday (Tuesday),” Hearn told the DAZN boxing show on Wednesday.
“I invited them out here to Abu Dhabi this week, they can’t come, but I see the Deontay Wilder fight probably being the second fight for Anthony Joshua in all honesty, but he’s up for fighting anyone.
“If he waits, he may go straight into that fight, it all depends on when he returns, if he returns early in the year, he’ll fight someone else first and if not he’ll go straight into the Whyte or Wilder fight.”
A possible battle against Wilder represents a genuine super fight for Joshua, who Hearn insists will not avoid an opponent on his road back to the top.
Whyte, meanwhile, returns to the ring November 26 against Jermaine Franklin, after his world title defeat to Fury in April.
Hearn is considering all of Joshua’s options with Wilder now a serious contender to fight the Brit in a tantalising heavyweight clash next year.
“I think it all depends on when Joshua fights, if he waits until April or May, he may go straight into the Dillian Whyte fight, if he fights in February, he may have a warm-up fight first,” Hearn said. “He’s coming to Abu Dhabi this week; we are sitting down with him to plan the next step and we’re on the verge of mapping that out.”
