Eddie Hearn: We want Anthony Joshua-Deontay Wilder fight in November/December

As unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua gets ready to take on Andy Ruiz Jr. in just a few weeks, his promoter Eddie Hearn tells Sky Sports that he still has an eye on putting together the much-talk-about fight between Joshua and Deontay Wilder later this year.

“Josh is fighting June 1 and then he’ll go in November-December, and that’s when we want the Wilder fight.

”It’s the only fight to make next for both guys, but everything we’re hearing out of their camp is not really giving us much encouragement that this is the fight that is going to happen.”

Truth is, there really are no encouraging signs that this fight will come off in 2019, if at all. I mean, really, I think the fight will eventually happen because there’s just too much money for everybody to make, but plenty of things can change all of between now and then.

But if it’s not Wilder, Hearn says Oleksandr Usyk is still a viable opponent for Joshua late in the year, even despite his heavyweight debut getting delayed, while also throwing Dillian Whyte and Tyson Fury’s name out there. Joshua fighting Tyson Fury would appear to be the least likely option at the moment, but I suppose throwing his name out there is good thing to stir up the fans and media anyway.