Deontay Wilder vs Anthony Joshua is a superfight which appears to be on the cards for 2024, and ‘The Bronze Bomber’ is already ramping up the hype.
Wilder and Joshua will appear on the same bill in Saudi Arabia on December 23, topping a card billed as ‘The Day of Reckoning’. It’s an incredible DAZN PPV show featuring a host of top-15 heavyweights, and it appears to the final stepping stone to Wilder locking horns with AJ in 2024.
The man from Alabama will face former WBO king Joseph Parker on the big night in Riyadh, while Joshua must deal with dangerous Swede Otto Wallin.
Deontay has said recently that he believes a Joshua fight – which would be enormous PPV material in the UK and the US – will happen next year. And he’s started the trash talk by delivering a damning verdict on AJ. In short he says there is one big difference between the two men – he claims the British superstar is a ‘made’ fighter.
What Wilder said about Joshua
He told the Last Stand podcast: “I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it again, it’s a difference between champions being born and being made.
“And Joshua was made, he was a made fighter. They bought things, they gave him things. Even with certain things, with the arena. ‘Oh, they sold this.’ No, y’all didn’t sell out nothing. You comped tickets and you resold them.
“I know how the whole game works. I’m behind scenes. I know how things work. You wanted it to seem like you can sell it out, you put your tickets out there, and you build your own little ticket thing and you buy all your tickets. Now it seems like you just sold out the arena. What you do? All you do is put it back on the market and resell it.”
He added: “It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book, when it comes to the business and then now the people on the outside looking in, ‘Oh my God, they sold out faster than Michael f****ng Jackson.’ Are you serious? That’s how it is. That’s how the trick is done. And people on the outside looking in, they don’t understand the business.”
Wilder has not fought since knocking out Robert Helenius in October 22, and that was his only bout since being knocked out by Tyson Fury in their epic triliogy showdown in October 2021. Now he returns with the carrot of that potential Joshua showdown right in front of him. But first, he must get past Parker on December 23.
