By Geoffrey Ciani: Once upon a time, more than four and a half years ago, Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua were both undefeated heavyweight champions.
In March 2018 Wilder was coming off of a terrific victory against Luis Ortiz, where Wilder had overcome adversity to score a 10th round stoppage to defend his WBC belt. And in April 2018, AJ was coming off of a 12 round unanimous decision victory against Joseph Parker, where he added the WBO belt to go alongside his unified IBF/WBA belts. The stage was perfectly set for a mega bout showdown between Wilder and Joshua for all of the major world titles. But Wilder and Joshua bottled it, and the fight never happened.
Fast forward to now, Wilder and Joshua are no longer world champions. Indeed, since that time, AJ has 3 wins and 3 losses, whereas Wilder has 3 wins, 2 losses, and a draw. Four and a half years is a long time in professional boxing, and now the two top dogs in the division are Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk. Fury is the reigning WBC and lineal world heavyweight champion, and Usyk is the reigning unified IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion.
Even though Wilder and AJ are no longer the two top heavyweights, and even though the two of them are basically batting .500 since the time was perfect for them to square off back in mid-to-late 2018, it is still a significant fight now, even without a single alphabet title on the line. So will the long awaited showdown between Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua finally come together in 2023?
This edition of Rummy’s Corner will attempt to explore the possibility and the importance of Wilder and Joshua squaring off in 2023. Please watch and enjoy the video for one man’s opinion. This is Rummy’s Corner (produced and narrated by Geoffrey Ciani).