JUST IN: SPORT: Joshua, Wilder Bout Delayed, Set For March 2024

JUST IN: SPORT: Joshua, Wilder Bout Delayed, Set For March 2024

Save Our Nation SON

October 17, 2023

After yet another postponement, Anthony Joshua will have to wait until March at the earliest to fight Deontay Wilder, according to the Mirror UK.

Joshua had intended to fight Wilder in the Middle East in December or January but will now take an interim fight before potentially facing the American in the spring. He was last in action in August, when he stopped Robert Helenius before it was announced the Finn had failed a pre-fight drug test.

The British is also in contention to fight for the IBF world title should it become vacant after Tyson Fury’s undisputed clash with Oleksandr Usyk, which is penciled in for December 23 in Saudi Arabia. 

His promoter, Eddie Hearn, told 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.”

Joshua has lost two and won two of his last four fights in the last three years; he lost back-to-back world title fights to Usyk before defeating Jermaine Franklin and knocking out Helenius. He said after his most recent win, “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.