Anthony Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn is still holding out hope that he can put together a grudge fight between he and Deontay Wilder.
Joshua is in camp preparing for a summer showdown with Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia, with the unified heavyweight titles on the line. Hearn insists that he is planning on facing Tyson Fury should he get past Usyk, with Wilder not a priority for the Brit's team at the moment.
At one point, Joshua and Wilder were undefeated heavyweight champions that held all the belts between them, and were offered millions to fight one another. But a deal couldn't be done between Hearn's Matchroom Boxing and PBC, who take care of Wilder, and both ultimately ended up losing their titles on multiple occasions.
But Hearn still believes that Joshua vs Wilder could be a major fight. He told Boxing Social that now the American has confirmed his comeback he is once again interested in making a deal happen.
"It's brilliant for boxing," Hearn said of Wilder's return plans. "It's great for Deontay, he's got a lot left in the tank, he's a big name and very entertaining. Great fights out there.
"I'd still love to make the Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder fight. Can you imagine? Wilder against Dillian Whyte, Andy Ruiz, anyone in that top 15 is a great fight. It's brilliant that he's back and I'm excited to see him return."
For the fight to be financially viable, however, it's likely that one man at least would need to be a heavyweight champion. The relationship between Hearn and PBC boss Al Haymon is infamously strained, and the American promotion tend to prefer to keep their fights between people that they have under contract.
Wilder just lost his last two bouts with WBC belt holder Tyson Fury, and likely needs a tune-up before returning to world title action and massive money fights. Meanwhile Joshua is laser-focused on reclaiming the WBA, IBF and WBO titles from Usyk should by winning their rematch.
"I don't know what he [Wilder] is going to do," Hearn added. "PBC have got a lot of heavyweights, we've got a lot of heavyweights and PBC tend to like to make those in-house fights which is understandable because it's easier to do.
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"First off, Andy Ruiz vs Deontay Wilder is an absolutely tremendous fight, and hopefully a fight like that could be produced. We're not thinking about [Joshua vs Wilder], at the moment we've just got to announce this Usyk fight, beat Usyk and fight Tyson Fury, so we'll see."
Wilder has confirmed in recent days that he plans to box again, telling Blue Blood Sports TV that the sport needs an American heavyweight champion to remain relevant in the public eye. As it stands, Brit Fury is the WBC champion despite claiming to be retired, while Ukrainian Usyk holds the rest of the belts.
"One thing about boxing that I've proved is, boxing thrives off of excitement but the excitement of an American champion," he explained. "Once that dies, so does boxing. it was living proof, because I'm coming back on popular demand because that's all I've been hearing from high and low."
