Anthony Joshua looks set to face off against Deontay Wilder, but it may not even be the most significant fight on the card.
Following his knockout win over Robert Helenius, the two-time world champion now has a clear path to finalise negotiations to face the American knockout artist Wilder, also a former titlist.
The bout is targeted for early 2024 in Saudi Arabia, and was initially touted to be a part of a double header alongside Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk battling it out for undisputed status.
The two current heavyweight champions have failed to come to terms in the past, and now both have fights to get through, starting with Usyk facing Daniel Dubois.
Despite the jeopardy in between now and the target date, Joshua revealed to Sky Sports Boxing that the plan was still to have all four fighters feature.
“From what I’ve heard, things are positive. We’ve obviously got stumbling blocks – Fury’s gotta get past Francis Ngannou and Usyk’s gotta get past Daniel Dubois, good luck to both of them.
“And we can then sit down and rejig things around. So the goal is to have Usyk and Fury potentially compete for the undisputed heavyweight championship, with myself and Wilder slugging it out and may the best man win.
“It’ll be a great event potentially, so we’re just waiting to see what happens and finalise the devil in the detail.”
It’s well known that the teams of both Joshua and Wilder have been deep in talks with Saudi representatives for their fight. Usyk has made his willingness clear by actually signing with the nation’s boxing outfit, Skill Challenge.
That leaves Fury, who has always seemed to hold all the cards when it comes down to this ‘tournament’ opener.
He faces MMA star Francis Ngannou in Saudi this October as part of another promotion, Riyadh Season, and will be free to negotiate with Usyk thereafter.
Many feel like the ship for undisputed has sailed however, given that Filip Hrgovic is now calling for his mandatory shot at unified champ Usyk after the Dubois fight.
Then there’s the winner of Joe Joyce and Zhilei Zhang in September.
The four sanctioning bodies previously agreed to allow undisputed talks to go on, but whether they will be as keen this time around remains to be seen.