Joshua eying some huge nights in 2023 (Picture: Getty)
Anthony Joshua insists he and Deontay Wilder will finally meet in the ring in 2023.
The heavyweight giants have been on collision course ever since both men reached the summit of heavyweight boxing in 2016.
With both Joshua and Wilder now fighting to force their way back into the world title picture after back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury respectively, there is renewed hope the two will finally come face-to-face next year.
Joshua has not fought since his second consecutive defeat to Usyk in August with the Olympian currently in the US working with a number of potential new trainers.
Wilder meanwhile got back to winning ways with a first-round knockout win over Robert Helenius in October.
And with positive talks underway between the respective camps, Joshua is confident the fight will ‘definitely’ happen.
Joshua told GQ: ‘Let’s look to the future. It will definitely happen. We’re in the same division, we’re in the same era, that means the fight has to happen.
Wilder back to winning ways (Picture: Getty)
‘2023 is looming, it’s a big year for boxing, and that fight will definitely happen.’
A rematch against Dillian Whyte is also on the cards with the two Londoners sharing an intense rivalry in 2015. Joshua secured a seventh round knockout victory in their first meeting and is eager for a reunion, believing his rivalry with ‘The Body Snatcher’ is more intense than his with Fury.
Asked who he would prefer to fight with no world titles in the equation, Joshua insisted reliving the London derby was more appealing.
‘South London, north London, Fury is good but he’s a Manchester boy,’ Joshua said. ‘I think Dillian has more swag in general, but he’s come up short a few times.’
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn meanwhile has already had conversations with Wilder’s team to get that fight on for 2023.
‘The communication lines are good between me and [Wilder’s manager] Shelly Finkel,’ Hearn told IFL TV. ‘We’ve had a lot of talks, a lot of chats. Until the training team is confirmed for AJ, we won’t make any opponent selections because we want the input from the trainer.
‘So again, we’ve got three or four guys that we’re talking to and ready to try and make a move for. We have to make sure the training team is comfortable with that. That’ll be the plan over the next couple of weeks.’
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Joshua and Wilder have been on collision course for years.
