'I'm gonna have to go to England' – Deontay Wilder proposes face-to-face meeting with Anthony Joshua
08/11/2023 16:53
Deontay Wilder wants to meet Anthony Joshua in person for direct talks about finally making a fight between them.
The rival heavyweights who previously failed to finalise a bout in 2018 and 2019, have returned to negotiations in recent months.
Back when they first tried to agree a deal, the pair were heavyweight world champions and would have met in an undisputed showdown.
Now, both have lost their titles, but the fight remains a massive attraction.
Representatives for Joshua and Wilder agreed terms over the summer for a fight in Saudi Arabia this December.
However, this fell through following a switch in the landscape of boxing in Saudi, with the new entity in charge instead prioritising Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk, which is now signed and planned for February.
As a result, AJ and Wilder’s teams have been working to find a new host in 2024, though it has not proved easy to replicate the funds they’d previously agreed in their Saudi proposal.
“I just don’t know what’s up with Joshua bro,” Wilder has now told Blue Blood Sports TV.
“Maybe I’m gonna have to go to England and sit down with him on some real man s***…
“I don’t want him to feel like I have anything against him.
“I know he’s afraid of me and I still say that to this day because he hasn’t proven differently.
“I know what fear is.”
Wilder continued: “I just feel like if Joshua really wanted to fight me, he would do it.
“It’s up to the fighter at the end of the day.
“No matter what manager, promoter, whatever – when a fighter wants to fight another fighter, it’s gonna happen…
“Joshua – me and you is the biggest fight in the world bro, what are you doing? How many people are you listening to?
“I really wanna talk to that dude.”
