Anthony Joshua will ‘pay’ for ‘wasting’ Deontay Wilder’s time in past fight a negotiation if the heavyweights ever square off, the American’s coach has said.
Joshua and Wilder have long been linked to one another, but a clash between the Briton and the “Bronze Bomber” has never come to fruition.
Wilder, 36, is set to face Robert Helenius next month in his first bout since last October, when he was stopped by Tyson Fury for the second fight in a row to round out their trilogy. Meanwhile, Joshua is in talks to take on compatriot Fury before the end of the year despite recently losing to Oleksandr Usyk for the second time in 11 months.
“Anthony Joshua is a fight that Deontay will get up for,” Wilder’s coach Malik Scott said via Fair Betting Sites. “He’s up for Robert Helenius, he gets up for fights, but I just know how important knocking ‘AJ’ out would be to Deontay.
“So many people have wanted to see this fight over the years. I think it would be a treat for the pugilist themselves, I think it would be a treat to boxing, I think it’d be a treat to barbershops, I think it would be a treat to recreation centres, to little kids coming up in this game and coming up in life and anything they want to do – and from so many different perspectives.
“It’s extremely personal to Deontay, because the fight was in the process of being made. Deontay and AJ shared emails, and it didn’t happen, and so much time was wasted. Deontay felt AJ let the fight down. [Joshua’s promoter] Eddie Hearn and those guys let the fight down.