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By: Sean Crose
You have to admit – it would be an interesting fight. Although an Anthony Joshua-Deontay Wilder fight would not be for a world title, it would be a major event nonetheless. Britain’s Joshua has held the WBA, WBO and IBF world heavyweight titles while America’s Wilder has held the WBC world heavyweight title. Indeed, a Joshua-Wilder match has been long discussed, especially back when each man was a world titlist. Since that time, Wilder has been defeated twice by Tyson Fury and Joshua has been defeated twice by Oleksandr Usyk, plus once by Andy Ruiz. But here’s the thing:
Neither man can be written off.
Joshua, despite what some may say, has been working very hard to up his ring game since the two defeats to Usyk. As for Wilder – the man may be the single hardest puncher in the entire history of boxing. Fury himself, who has been dropped by the hard hitting Wilder numerous times, might well agree. Yet there’s other reasons why a Joshua-Wilder fight would be interesting. First off, Wilder isn’t the only one who can hit. People forget how powerful Joshua’s shots can be – and how many knockouts the fighter has on his resume. What’s more, they’re physically enormous, these two fighters, standing closer to seven feet than to six.
Of course, this matchup, as mentioned, has been talked about for years. It’s being discussed again, however, which makes it newsworthy. On top of that, Wilder’s trainer, Malik Scott, has told Betway that the match looks promising at this point. “Nothing’s been signed,” he said, “but signing is almost upon us. The negotiations definitely are happening. Moves are being made. The business aspect is definitely being taken care of. Most of all, Deontay is being taken care of and is going to get paid very well for his services, and that’s the most important part to me.”
It’s only natural for fans to take all this in with a generous grain of salt. Event Scott, who is clearly confident with how negotiations are going, still isn’t entirely convinced a Joshua-Wilder fight is going to go down. “I feel very strongly that this is going to happen, definitely more than a 50 per cent mark. I am 70, 75, possibly 80 per cent sure this happens,” he said. “The only thing that gives me any doubt is because I know the sport that I’m in. I know how beautiful it is, but I know how it can let you down at times when it comes to big fights getting made. I’m not getting too excited.”
