Time for Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua to Shut Up and Fight Each Other
Yes, it's finally happening.
Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua are fighting Saturday night.
In the same city. In the same venue. In the same ring.
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But alas, not at the same time.
Though they were the two most accomplished heavyweights of the 2010s and are two of the most well-compensated big men of all time, the 38-year-old from Alabama and the 34-year-old from London have somehow never managed to glove up against one another in 75 combined bouts.
Because boxing.
For better or worse, and it's almost universally worse, it's the only sport—individual or team—in which the best competitors are not locked in to meeting at one point or another.
Teams that win their way through the NFL playoffs compete for the Super Bowl. Teams that advance their way through the NCAA basketball tournament compete for a national championship. Heck, even fighters who win on a high level in the UFC are almost guaranteed to meet in a title fight.
But it's not the case in boxing, where decentralized promotional fiefdoms and TV/streaming allegiances hold far more competitive weight than what would be best for the sport or, gasp...its fans.
Wilder won the WBC's share of the heavyweight title from Bermane Stiverne in January 2015, Joshua wrested the IBF's belt from Charles Martin in April 2016—and the two shared championship space atop the division for more than a thousand days before Joshua was upended by Andy Ruiz in 2019.
The Englishman regained his status in a successful rematch six months later and reigned alongside Wilder for 77 more days before Wilder fell at the feet of Tyson Fury.
But they never met.
In fact, outside of a prolonged he said/he said in which both sides claimed to have made offers that were subsequently rebuffed, it was never all that close.
And once Joshua's brand was tarnished by consecutive schoolings from puffed-up cruiserweight Oleksandr Usyk across 11 months in 2021 and 2022, it seemed forever dead and buried.
Until that is, it wasn't.
Just when it seemed the ex-champs would fight into separate irrelevance, the Saudi monarchy's desire to make itself a global player in combat sports woke up the echoes of their aborted rivalry.
Step one is a crown-funded mega-card at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, where Joshua will headline in a 12-rounder with once-beaten gatekeeper Otto Wallin and Wilder will face Joseph Parker, whom Joshua beat on the scorecards nearly six years ago, in the show's penultimate bout.
The plan from there, assuming two wins and no injuries, is a long-awaited clash between Wilder and Joshua in early 2024.
It all looks good on paper. It really ought to happen.
It's no slam dunk that it does.
And not just because it's boxing.
Wilder seems a safe bet to advance given a near 97 percent KO rate in his 43 wins and the fact that Parker has no relevant wins since he lost his belt.
As for Joshua, though, recent performances must cause at least some promotional angst that the capable Wallin, a 6'5" southpaw with a 78-inch reach who gave Fury a rough, bloody pre-Wilder ride in 2019 and is 6-0 since, will spoil the desert party.
No pressure, the former three-belt champ said, during a pre-weekend media event.
"I'm pretty laid back. I'm pretty chill," Joshua told The Ring (via Yahoo Sports).
"I don't hear it all. I put my earplugs in. I'm very level-headed. I know that one good fight leads to another good fight. If I get past Wallin, Wilder is probably next. If I don't get past Wallin, who knows what's next?"
We'll take the positive tack for now.
Saturday wins qualify Wilder and Joshua for a makeshift heavyweight final four, where their bout in March would fill the bracket opposite Fury and Usyk—who'll meet in the other Saudi semifinal February 17.
Wilder is 0-2-1 against Fury. Joshua is 0-2 against Usyk.
Like Joshua and Wilder, Joshua and Fury never met after a prolonged dance around and toward one another, including two bouts that were agreed to but later scuttled by Joshua's losses to Usyk.
The Fury-Usyk bout will crown the first undisputed heavyweight champ since Lennox Lewis held the IBF, WBA and WBC belts (the WBO belt wasn't widely recognized just yet) in 1999 and a subsequent four-belt fight involving either Wilder or Joshua coming off a career-defining win would be a guaranteed blockbuster.
And in an era of crossovers and Jake Paul dumb-downs, a dream come true, too.
"A lot of great things are happening. A lot of doors are opening. And a lot of opportunities are looming … All I can do is wish [Joshua] the best," Wilder told The Ring. "I'm always ready to fight anyone, anywhere. Wherever there is excitement and money, that's where I will be, regardless. I'm open to all parties."
Boxing, in the shape it's in, could certainly use one.
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