With the eye-catching return of Deontay Wilder, beating Robert Helenius by first-round knockout on Saturday, there seems to be a new buzz around the heavyweight division.
Many have called a potential Anthony Joshua versus Wilder fight as ‘the best contest’ that can be made in boxing’s blue-ribbon division. It would seem like the ideal opportunity for ‘AJ’ to prove he still has what it takes to compete for world titles.
Now that both fighters have lost their belts, they seem to form the perfect recipe for both to get back on track in a winner-takes-all fight, with a loss for either fighter being detrimental to hopes of challenging for top honours again.
Speaking to 210BoxingTV, Joshua’s trainer, Robert Garcia, said ‘the most entertaining fight in the heavyweight division’ could only end one way – by knockout.
“It would be a great fight because with Anthony Joshua and Wilder, we know it ends by knockout.
Wilder just had one, but I think Anthony Joshua needs two fights, just to get his confidence back up and then they could fight at the end of next year.
It would be such a great fight because everybody knows it ends by knockout, everybody knows that whoever lands the first punch is going to win by knockout. So they are both going to be training so hard to not get knocked out.”
“It would probably be the most entertaining fight in the heavyweight division because they are both great names and it would generate a lot of attention. I would love to see that fight, definitely.”
Despite his brutal return against Helenius, Garcia still has his doubts whether Wilder is the fighter he once was.
“The thing with Wilder is, we still don’t know if he has it or if he has lost it. It was just one round, it was just one hard punch that knocked him [Helenius] out. We didn’t see him going to the seventh, eighth round of a tough fight. So we still don’t know, he needs one more fight and same thing with Anthony Joshua, he needs two fights before that [fight with Wilder].”
“I think Anthony has great skills, I think he could fight smart. He doesn’t need to go out there and take risks of getting it, he has a great jab and great boxing skills, so use those skills to win the fight.”
Although both men are lacking the form and momentum that they once had, the matchup between ‘The Bronze Bomber’ and Joshua still looks like the fight to make for 2023.