Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder ship has sailed away
Fans have wanted to witness the clash between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder for almost a decade now, but the chances of it happening are now slim.
Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua (image credit- DAZN, The Sun)
The heavyweight division is easily regarded as the most exciting division in the sport of boxing. This has been the case for several decades, as fighters like Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, and numerous others emerge from it. Similarly, in the current era of boxing, there have also been notable figures like Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury, and Oleksandr Usyk.
Furthermore, there are several other talented heavyweights in the sport, but the aforementioned fighters have been the most exciting in recent years.
While Fury has fought both Wilder and Usyk and Joshua has fought Usyk, one significant fight that hasn’t happened is between AJ and The Bronze Bomber. Unfortunately, with the way Wilder’s career has been going in recent years, there is a possibility that the fight will now never happen.
The history behind the Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder matchup
At one point, both Joshua and Deontay Wilder were at the pinnacle of the heavyweight division. This was back in 2015 when both of them were undefeated heavyweight champions. In addition, both of them had an impressive 100% knockout rate in their professional careers. Wilder became the WBC heavyweight champion in 2015, and Joshua won the British and Commonwealth titles, which were vacated by Fury.
In 2016, Joshua won his first world title after he won the IBF heavyweight belt against Charles Martin. Hence, both Wilder and AJ gained a reputation for their punching power and streaks of knockout victories. Furthermore, the bulk of their victories came via knockout. This, of course, caused them to be matched against each other in what was expected to be an explosive fight between two heavyweight titans.
Attempts to make the fight a reality started way back in 2015, when both of them were the highlights of the heavyweight division. In addition, fans would often look forward to an explosive fight between them.
Why didn’t the fight ever happen?
The fight between Wilder and Joshua failed to materialize because their teams could not successfully conduct negotiations. The point of contention could be the fighter purse and the PPV points for the event. Subsequently, the two heavyweights decided to pursue other fights and defend their titles against several boxers.
At this point, Wilder decided to take on another British heavyweight in 2018, which led to a draw against Fury. The very next year, Joshua suffered his first professional loss when Andy Ruiz unexpectedly knocked him out in 2019. This caused Wilder to again focus on securing another fight with Fury. Joshua later won his title back from Ruiz during the rematch that occurred in the same year.
However, Wilder later suffered his first professional loss against Fury in 2020 during their second fight. In 2021, Joshua lost his heavyweight title for the second time when he fought Oleksandr Usyk. Subsequently, the very next month, Wilder lost to Fury again during their final trilogy fight. Similarly, Joshua also lost against Usyk during their rematch in 2022. After this, both their careers took a dip, and their fight was forgotten.
The matchup remained interesting despite their losses
Both Wilder and Joshua did make a comeback in their professional careers after their losses. Furthermore, since they had such an impressive record, they were again able to become relevant heavyweight boxers. As such, in 2022, Wilder came back to the ring and knocked out Robert Helenius in the first round.
Similarly, Joshua returned to the ring in April 2023 with a unanimous decision victory over Jermaine Franklin Jr. Four months later, AJ also defeated Helenius with a knockout in the seventh round. This caused them to match again, and several people argued that Wilder could defeat Joshua. This is because he dealt with Helenius in the first round, while Joshua took seven rounds.
As such, both Wilder and Joshua, for the first time, appeared in the same fight card, which was ‘The Day of Reckoning’. AJ was set to fight Otto Wallin, and Wilder was set to fight Joseph Parker. Both of them were expected to win their fights and finally face each other. However, this did not happen since Wilder put out one of the worst performances of his career against Parker.
Turki Alalshikh and fans wanted the fight to happen
After his victory over Wallin, Joshua knocked out Francis Ngannou in the second round. This was a great victory since Fury, who defeated Wilder, had struggled against the MMA fighter during their fight. Furthermore, this again highlighted that Joshua and Wilder are now a perfect match for each other. However, even after his disappointing loss against Parker and after AJ’s stunning victories, Turki Alalshikh still wanted to see the fight between them.
As such, His Excellency had announced before the massive 5 vs. 5 fight card that if Wilder defeated Zhilei Zhang, he would be able to fight Joshua in September 2024. Furthermore, AJ was reportedly set to fight the winner of Daniel Dubois vs. Filip Hrgovic for the IBF heavyweight title. Subsequently, Alalshikh remarked that the fight between AJ and Wilder is the fight he and the fans want to see.
However, Wilder lost his fight against Zhang via a devastating fifth-round TKO. This has now completely crumbled any chances of Joshua and Wilder fighting in the future. Furthermore, Dubois was able to defeat Hrgovic in the same bout and acquire the IBF heavyweight title. Hence, Joshua is now expected to fight Dubois for the title in September.
Will Deontay Wilder retire now?
The Bronze Bomber has had an illustrious boxing career, which includes his achievements as an Olympic and professional boxer. However, after his two losses against Fury, Wilder has not remained active or motivated in the sport. While he did defeat Helenius, Wilder did not pick another fight for 14 months. Subsequently, his loss against Parker and Zhang will now further affect his motivation as a boxer.
Furthermore, before the fight, Wilder had stated that he would retire if he lost the fight against Zhang. In addition, he remarked that this fight will determine if he still has it or not. Sadly, Wilder will retire from the sport since he lost against the Chinese boxer. Wilder did express an intent to fight several different heavyweight boxers, but that was before the Zhang fight.
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Abhijay Roy
(551 Articles Published)