Deontay Wilder explains what he must do to earn Anthony Joshua fight

16/04/2024 21:02

Deontay Wilder is still eager to face Anthony Joshua later this year.

The ‘Bronze Bomber’ lost to Joseph Parker on points in December 2023 and it derailed his showdown with Joshua, which was signed for March this year, but he has since announced he will make a comeback against Zhilei Zhang on June 1.

As part of the announcement, he has buried his feud with Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn, and will appear under the Matchroom Boxing banner in Saudi Arabia, which could rekindle talks over a meeting with Joshua.

But the American heavyweight rates his chances of rekindling the mega-fight, and is plotting a big statement this summer.

He told BBC Sport: “People are always going to want to see that fight no matter what.

“I put it in the high 90s [percentage chance of the fight happening].

“I always said it before, it’ll be a shame if we never fought.

“It only takes that one fight, that one night. June 1st is going to be that night, that one fight.

“Deontay Wilder knocks [Zhang’s] head off and the world goes crazy.

“And there we go again, Wilder versus Joshua. They want it [again].”

Wilder and Joshua have been on a collision course for several years since 2018, when the pair looked destined to meet in an undisputed fight.

But talks never materialised into the fight officially happening, with Joshua rejecting a $50 million offer from his rival’s team to accept the fight.

The heavy-hitting pair looked set to do battle this year, but Wilder’s loss effectively made their agreement null and void.

Jodhua instead fought Francis Ngannou beating him with a comfortable KO, and he is now waiting for news of his next outing.

A mega-money dust-up could still make a lot of sense later in 2024, if Joshua is forced to wait for a shot at the winner of Tyson Fury’s potential two fights with Oleksandr Usyk.