Joshua, Wilder bout delayed till March News

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Joshua, Wilder bout delayed till March

By Daily Sports Nigeria on October 18, 2023

Anthony Joshua’s long-anticipated heavyweight showndown against Deontay Wilder has been delayed once more, with the earliest potential date now set for March.

Joshua had earlier hopes to face the American in the Middle East either in December or January, but due to the delay, he will participate in an interim bout before the possibility of facing the American boxer in the spring.

His most recent fight was in August when he defeated Robert Helenius, only for it to be revealed later that the Finnish boxer had failed a pre-fight drug test.

Furthermore, Joshua is also being considered for a shot at the IBF world title which could become vacant after Tyson Fury’s anticipated undisputed match against Oleksandr Usyk, scheduled for December 23 in Saudi Arabia.

“He wants to, he really wants to (fight). We’ve been on calls with him all week. There’s a lot happening with the IBF situation. We’ll have to see. I think he’s going to fight in December or January,” Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, told iFL TV.

“I think the Wilder fight, realistically, is not going to happen until March or April, at the latest. But he wants to fight. He wants to go back to camp and asked us to try and make him a fight for December; whether that spills into January, we’ll see.”

In the past three years, Joshua has participated in four fights, winning two and losing two. His back-to-back defeats came in world title contests against Usyk, but he bounced back by defeating Jermaine Franklin and securing a knockout victory over Helenius.

Regarding his most recent win, Joshua commented, “Any time’s a good time to fight. It’s only a fight. It doesn’t matter who it is. It could’ve been Wilder eight years ago or Wilder now. It is what it is at the end of the day.

“There’s no worry to me when it is. I’m just happy that we can get the fight going, and I think people appreciate that. I’m doing my best to keep heavyweight boxing on the map.”

Wilder has been even less active, fighting just twice in the last two years. Before that he lost back-to-back fights against Fury who retains his WBC belt despite not defending it since last December.

‘The Gypsy King’ will take on former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia on October 28.

Source Punch Ng

Posted October 18, 2023