REPORTS have claimed that former heavyweight boxing champions Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder have an agreement to fight each other at last.
The long-awaited clash is tentatively scheduled for March 9, 2024, according to ESPN.
The stars have been close to a big fight for several years, and will both be in action on the same night in separate bouts in Saudi Arabia this month.
Nigerian-Briton Joshua, a two-time World Boxing Association, International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organisation champion, is set to square off with Otto Wallin, whilst American former World Boxing Council champion Wilder will battle New Zealand’s Joseph Parker, both on December 23.
According to American network ESPN, Wilder and Joshua will return to Saudi Arabia three months after the ‘Day of Reckoning’ for a showdown much like the eagerly-anticipated meeting between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, which is scheduled for February 17.
Wilder, 38, recently claimed that the 34-year-old Joshua’s team has manipulated attendances over the years to make their fighter appear more popular.
“I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it again, it’s a difference between champions being born and being made,” Wilder said.
“Joshua was made, he was a made fighter. They bought things, they gave him things. Even with certain things, with the arena. ‘Oh, they sold this’. No, you didn’t sell out nothing. You comped tickets and you resold them.
‘I know how the whole game works. I’m behind scenes. I know how things work. You wanted it to seem like it sold out, you put your tickets out there, and you build your own little ticket thing and you buy all your tickets.
“Now it seems like you sold out the arena. What you do? All you do is put it back on the market and resell it.
“It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book, when it comes to the business and now people on the outside looking in, ‘Oh my God, they sold out faster than Michael f****ng Jackson’. Are you serious? That’s how it is. That’s how the trick is done.”
Wilder previously claimed that he had offered Joshua’s camp £40 million, and accused his rival’s representatives of ‘holding him back’, resulting in the fight never taking place.
“Many times he wanted to fight, he wanted to accept it but his handlers didn’t want it because Joshua is the money-maker for the company,” Wilder told Mail Sport. “And if he goes down, so does the business.”
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn denied the claims, admitting that Wilder’s camp had made the offer in a bid to get the fight made, but had failed to send a contract.
The Nigerian, who won super heavyweight boxing gold medal for Great Britain at the London 2012 Olympics, has a professional record of 29 fights, with 26 victories (23 via knockout) and three losses.
Wilder, a heavyweight boxing bronze medallist at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, has fought 46 times as a professional, winning 43 (42 via knockout), losing two and drawing one.
