Wilder to end long wait to fight Joshua in September

Deontay Wilder could finally be set to end what’s been a long wait to fight Anthony Joshua, and according to his agent, Shelly Finkel, is ‘hoping’ an offer to take on the British fighter will be made later in 2024 reports dailymail.co.uk.

The heavyweights have been circling each other for years, with boxing fans eager to see Joshua and Wilder square off in the ring. But before a fight can be made, Wilder is set to return to the ring to avenge his defeat against Joseph Parker, as he takes on Zhilei Zhang during Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren’s 5v5 event in June.

Joshua, meanwhile, is yet to announce his next opponent, after he claimed an emphatic knockout victory against Francis Ngannou in March. While it seems he is waiting to set up a fight against Tyson Fury, who will take on Oleksandr Usyk on May 18, reports from The Sun claim that Joshua could return to the ring in September.

Saudi boxing executive, Turki Alalshikh, is set to be coordinating the fight which, will hold at Wembley and could see Wilder step in to face the British fighter, if he beats Zhang in the summer.

According to his promoter, Shelly Finkel, the former heavyweight champion is ready to step up to the occasion, if an offer is tabled. “It’s speculation but if everything goes OK on June 1 like we hope and expect and that’s brought to us, we’re totally open,” his manager Finkel told The Sun. He added: “But no, there hasn’t been any direct conversation.”

In 2023, Hearn claimed that a bout between Joshua and Wilder had finally been ‘signed’ and ‘was set to be announced’ after the Day of Reckoning.

But those plans to announce the bout were scuppered after the Bronze Bomber suffered a unanimous decision defeat by Joseph Parker in December. Hearn said: “We had signed the Wilder contract. It was going to be announced tonight, but that’s boxing. It’s one that we believed we would win and if anyone was going to beat him, I was pleased it was Joe (Parker).’

Hearn and Wilder have previously not seen eye-to-eye, with Wilder insisting the promoter’s agency, Matchroom, ‘held Joshua back from agreeing a £40million deal to fight him’ in 2023.

While the pair have fired jibes back and forth over the years, with Hearn calling the 38-year-old’s loss to Parker ‘the most one-sided heavyweight fights ever,’ it now appears Wilder and the promoter have buried the hatchet.