JAKARTA - Former World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight world champion from the United States, Deontay Wilder, does not regret losing his chance to face former world champion from England, Anthony Joshua (AJ).
This was conveyed by Shelly Finkel as Wilder's manager. He firmly stated that Wilder had never been disappointed for failing to fight Joshua in the nearest summer.
"It's impossible (Joshua) to be disappointed with something that never happened. The same old story, but only the date is new," Shelly said, quoted from Sky Sport.
Eddie Hearn, boss of Matchroom Boxing, had previously hinted that they would consider matching Joshua with Wilder before fighting Tyson Fury later this year.
However, Joshua will eventually be confirmed to step into the ring on July 25, 2026 to face Kristian Prenga, a boxer from Albania who is not very well known in the ring world.
After facing Prenga, AJ is also scheduled to fight his fellow British rival, Tyson Fury, which is expected to take place in the last quarter of this year. This automatically buried Wilder's chances of meeting Joshua.
"Eddie Hearn (Anthony Joshua's promoter) has never contacted us and Joshua clearly has no intention of fighting Deontay Wilder," Shelly said.
Plans to bring Joshua and Wilder together have been talked about frequently. In 2019, the two wanted to be arranged to win the undisputed heavyweight world title.
The plan was initially going well. However, Joshua instead suffered a defeat against Andy Ruiz, who then managed to retaliate in their rematch.
The two then fought in the same event when Joshua defeated Otto Wallin in 2023. Only, on that occasion Wilder made a mistake and unexpectedly lost to Joseph Parker.
Wilder fought in Britain earlier this month when he beat Derek Chisora and will be looking for further opportunities, including being linked with current heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk.
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