Deontay Wilder is targeting a showdown with a former world heavyweight champion.
The 39-year-old from Tuscaloosa, Alabama made his long-awaited return to the ring last month, stopping fellow countryman Tyrrell Anthony Herndon in the seventh round of their non-title bout at the Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas.
Wilder hadn’t fought in over a year prior to his clash with Herndon, suffering back-to-back defeats to Joseph Parker and Zhilei ‘Big Bang’ Zhang in December 2023 and June 2024 respectively.
The former long-reigning WBC heavyweight champion has set his sights on returning to the pinnacle of the division once again and could now be in line for a showdown with a two-time unified heavyweight champion.
Speaking on The Fighter’s Voice, Wilder spoke about what could be next for him, as he welcomes a long-awaited showdown with Britain’s Anthony Joshua.
“Most definitely [the AJ fight will happen]… we’re still in it and we’re still active and we’re gonna meet each other.
“You know it’s a lot of great things that has been going on in boxing you know with different people that’s getting involved and making the best fights happen at this appropriate time, you know and I’m looking forward to it all.
“I don’t have no time to take no steps back, you know we have a strategic plan that we have planned set for and we’re following along with it but if we have to take certain shortcuts and certain things we will do so. I am a veteran in this business at this moment in time and I love every bit of it.”
Joshua is yet to return to the ring himself following that shock defeat to former IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois last September. The 35-year-old from Watford is being tipped to return before the end of 2025 however, with a potential showdown with Wilder said to be of interest to the former unified heavyweight champion.