Deontay Wilder watching Anthony Joshua, still wants Tyson Fury

Deontay Wilder, who holds the WBC heavyweight title, says he still wants to face Tyson Fury, and that he’s keeping an eye on Anthony Joshua, too, as Joshua faces Eric Molina this weekend in the United Kingdom.

On Joshua:

“In the heavyweight division the only guy is me. We're down right now but we will get back up. The British scene in boxing, not just the heavyweight division, is popping. It's your time. Everybody gets their turn and, right now, you guys are hitting home runs.”

... “It's contagious to do great. But once that one bad apple falls, everybody else will fall, and that's how it is.”

Joshua (17-0, 17 KO) is hoping to beat Molina and set up a big spring 2017 showdown with former champion Wladimir Klitschko. The winner of that would have options, of course, but a fight with Wilder (37-0, 36 KO) would potentially be the biggest in terms of money and attention, not to mention status in the division.

Wilder and Fury (25-0, 18 KO) began hyping a fight earlier this year, which never came about. The two big heavyweights have massive personality and could do big business, but Wilder hopes Fury will first get his personal life in order, then return to the sport.

On Fury:

"You've got to be a certain type of character sometimes. But sometimes guys will build a certain type of character then they can't turn it off. You've got to know how to turn that switch off.

"May God be with him, and I look forward to the return of Tyson Fury because we didn't promote that fight all year for nothing, trust me. That one's got to happen, whether he's got a belt or not."

Wilder, 31, defeated Artur Szpilka in January of this year, and Chris Arreola in July, before taking the rest of 2016 off due to injury.