Anthony Joshua’s fight against Deontay Wilder has been postponed again, and the Mirror UK reports that the earliest it could now take place is March 2024.
Joshua had initially planned to square off against Wilder in the Middle East either in December or January. However, it seems he’ll now opt for an interim fight before a potential showdown with the American in the spring. His most recent bout was in August when he defeated Robert Helenius, although it was later revealed that Helenius had failed a pre-fight drug test.
Furthermore, Joshua is also in the running for a shot at the IBF world title, provided it becomes vacant following Tyson Fury’s undisputed match against Oleksandr Usyk, scheduled for December 23 in Saudi Arabia.
Eddie Hearn, his promoter, informed iFL TV: “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.”
“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 his recent four fights over the last three years, Joshua’s record stands at two wins and two losses. He experienced consecutive losses in world title matches against Usyk but then rebounded with victories against Jermaine Franklin and a knockout win over Helenius. Following his most recent victory, he remarked“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.