Deontay Wilder (43-2-1, 42 KOs) previously stated his desire to fight Andy Ruiz and Oleksandr Usyk, but recently shifted his focus to Anthony Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) and is now ready to cross the gloves with him. Wilder and Ruiz were appointed to the final eliminator for the WBC belt. At stake in a possible fight with Joshua will not be a title, but fame and a lot of money.
“Fury vs Usyk is not even close to the fight that Joshua vs Fury or Joshua vs Wilder. There would be a lot more scale in these fights,” says Eddie Hearn, AJ's promoter.
“Despite the fact that we have a WBC eliminator with Ruiz ahead of us, we would prefer a fight with Joshua, to be honest. I spoke with Deontay and he wants to fight Joshua. So let's do it. We'll settle for a fight in the UK, or we can fly to the Middle East, as long as it's our next fight. I understand that Hearn wanted to see Joshua against Dillian Whyte first, but the fans would have preferred to see Joshua against Wilder. Let's get this fight done as soon as possible," said Shelley Finkel, Wilder's adviser and manager.
