Hearn says Joshua can beat anybody, give update on bout with Wilder

Hearn says Joshua can beat anybody, and give an update on the bout with Wilder

After consecutive losses to Oleksandr Usyk, many believed Anthony Joshua's decline was in full swing. A unanimous decision win over Jermaine Franklin wasn't convincing enough for boxing purists, but Joshua's explosive knockout of Robert Helenius over the weekend has raised peoples' eyebrows.

Matchroom Boxing chairman Eddie Hearn has always had Joshua's back, although he has let some doubt creep in over the past few years. But now, Hearn is squarely back on the Joshua bandwagon.

Speaking to Boxing Social, Hearn had this to say about the potential bout between Joshua and Deontay Wilder.

”I think if he can be a little bit more aggressive with the style that he's adopted, with the way he's improved his feet, his movement, his defence, his distance - I think he's gonna be, it's difficult to say unbeatable, but I think he beats everyone. I'm so confident he will Deontay Wilder.

Hearn mentioned it's "our intention to fight Deontay Wilder next" and that there's no other opponent that Matchroom are looking at for Joshua. If it doesn't materialize, Joshua will fight someone else in December.

Wilder also knocked out Helenius in his last fight in October of 2022. Wilder had come off of two straight losses to Tyson Fury. He'll turn 38 in two months, so this could be the American's last shot at a mega-fight.

Hearn talks about his efforts to make a heavyweight fight between Joshua and Wilder and sort of scoffs at the notion that their side is only feigning interest for publicity.

 As Hearn tells it, they’re completely settled on making the fight so long as the Saudis deliver on the money side of things.

On the status of a fight between Joshua and Wilder and the suggestion by some that they’re not genuinely interested

 “ASAP. Frank Smith was in a meeting with Prince Khaled for, a skills challenge. I think they’re talking about a time frame of a week or two weeks. The fight’s scheduled to take place the middle-to-end of January. We’re all positive and like I said, we’re in. If it can be delivered, we’re in.

“If we don’t get that Wilder fight in the next — and I’m not putting a time frame on it — but, I don’t know, two or three weeks, which is no reason why we shouldn’t, we may start looking at a fight in November, December.

“We can still fight Wilder in February or March. The only other thing is Wilder’s comments about whether

is he gonna fight. I think Malik Scott said he may fight in October. That’s a concern for us because I don’t really want him to fight later than September if he’s fighting in January. But, you know, we’ll see what they say. I truly believe Wilder is in for the fight, I truly believe that. I don’t think they’re wasting their time either.