Deontay Wilder has teased that one of the heavyweight fights the sport has wanted for years could have a sequel before the bell has rung for the first contest.
Wilder has declared that negotiations to face Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia have taken a turn in that a rematch in Africa is now in play
Joshua has always made it clear that he wants to fight in Africa. His mother, Yeta, is from Nigeria and his father, Robert, has both Nigerian and Irish ancestry.
Joshua also said that the first fight with Wilder could be part of a huge double-header.
“The goal is to have [Oleksandr] Usyk and Fury compete for undisputed, with myself and Wilder. It’ll be a great event…. Things are positive,” Joshua said, adding that the timeframe would not allow an interim fight.
When Joshua left the ring have knocked out Robert Helenius in seven rounds a fortnight ago, Joshua said he wanted to fight two more times this year.
But talking to Sky Sports in Holland, where he has been at the F1 Grand Prix warm up events, Joshua said: “In reality we’re trying to schedule a fight for December so unfortunately no. That’s the time scale we're looking forward to really. In reality I'm going to focus on the Wilder fight for now.
“Fury’s got to get past [Francis] Ngannou. Usyk’s got to get past [Daniel] Dubois [this weekend]. Good luck to both of them. Good luck to every party involved and we can sit down and then rejig things around.
“The goal is to have Usyk and Fury compete for the undisputed heavyweight championship, myself and Deontay Wilder, two big punchers, great fighters, been to the top of the mountain, slug it out and may the best man win. It'll be a great event potentially. Wait to see what happens and then finalize the devil in the detail.”
Wilder, speaking to Ellie Sekback of ES News, said yesterday: “I want to let everybody know about the Joshua situation. It is serious, and that is real [negotiations], and that is the one that is next.
“We are looking forward to that. I’m going to be getting into camp for that real soon.
“I will be promoting that [the fight with Joshua] in the next few months or so and finally get that showdown on, once and for all.
“I think it’s going to be a great, great fight between me and him. I’m actually working on a two-fight deal with me and Joshua. One fight in Saudi Arabia and the other one, [we] will be going back to the motherland, Africa.”
