Esteemed former trainer Teddy Atlas has weighed in with a prediction for the potential fight between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder.
Joshua and Wilder look set to face off in a monster clash in Saudi Arabia this December, in what would be one of the biggest heavyweight dust ups in recent memory.
Speaking on his podcast The Fight, Atlas stated he sees Wilder emerging with a stoppage victory over Joshua, by way of that trademark right hand.
“If I was backing him [Joshua], I don’t know if I’d want to put him in with Wilder, to be quite frank, with the kind of right hand Wilder chucks and the susceptibility he has to getting hit with the right hand.”
“It’s not a knock on him, but I think Wilder would knock him out.”
Atlas is so confident of a Wilder victory, he doubts, even though a deal now looks set, that Joshua’s team would ever put him in with ‘The Bronze Bomber’.
“Joshua’s vulnerability for the right hand is one of the reasons, besides the fact he’s made so much money he doesn’t need to do this, that you never see him with Wilder ever.”
The former unified world champion still looks set to fight over the summer on August 12th, most likely against old rival Dillian Whyte, with promoter Eddie Hearn admitting that taking an interim fight before Wilder was a ‘risk,’ but was what AJ’s team wanted.
Joshua of course is no stranger to boxing in Saudi Arabia, with the oil rich country having played host to his successful rematch against Andy Ruiz Jr back in 2019, as well as his defeat to Oleksandr Usyk last summer.
It appears that Skills Challenge Entertainment are determined to host AJ vs Wilder, even if they can’t agree terms for an undisputed fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk on the same card, as was widely reported to have been the original plan.