Joshua hopes fight with Wilder will still happen

Former world champion Anthony Joshua hasn’t shut the door on a Deontay Wilder matchup despite “The Bronze Bomber’s” lopsided loss to Joseph Parker at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, over the weekend.

Wilder dropped scorecards of 118-111, 118-110, and 120-108 on the same card that Joshua stopped Otto Wallin in the fifth round. While many expected that result might jeopardize a potential Wilder vs. Joshua bout, the Englishman isn’t ruling out the possibility.

“I’m not too sure what can happen from here, but I’m sure from a fan perspective they’ll be more annoyed. For me, I always understand how this game is. You never know,” Joshua said at the post-fight press conference. “This is elite-level boxing. Wilder just came up short but he’ll live to fight another day.”

Me and Wilder can still get it on, we can still get it cracking. I believe I’m a massive threat. I still think Wilder is a threat, and I still think it does amazing numbers if you get it on. But I’ll leave that down to my management, trainers, and promoters, to make the decision. I’m down to fight anyone, whenever, and whoever.”

Wilder has lost three of his last four outings, which includes two title bout losses against Tyson Fury. Meanwhile, Joshua has now won three straight after suffering consecutive title losses against Oleksandr Usyk.