Anthony Joshua’s fight opportunities amid frantic search for a bout

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The United Kingdom’s Anthony Joshua promised fans he would give them three fights this year and is bent on keeping his promise. The hairy, handsome puncher’s publicised desire for an opponent has rewarded him with opportunities.

The latest suggestion on his table is from Tony Bellew, who pointed Joshua towards Michael Hunter recently. Hunter is not a heavyweight boxer, but his performance while ‘dancing’ with heavyweight Martin Bakole makes him a worthy opponent in Bellew’s book.

While referring to the fluctuating talks of a fight between Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua, Bellew advised, ‘I’d take the trajectory a little bit up. I would look more towards a gatekeeper. Michael Hunter? He beat Martin Bakole.

‘That’s a difficult one, though; he is a problem. I know you’re going to say that he is a cruiserweight, but he is a problem. He’s been a sparring partner of AJ’s quite recently, as well.’

Whether Anthony Joshua will be willing to get in the ring with a fighter of that status is still undisclosed, since Joshua seems intent on meeting only the big names for the moment.

Joshua’s two back-to-back victories over heavyweights like Robert Helenius once made fans think he was wasting his time fighting such calibre fighters, but Bakole alleges he beat unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk twice in the gym, something Usyk’s trainer said happened only once.

If cruiserweight Michael Hunter beat Bankole in the period he won Usyk, then he might be a nice opponent for Joshua. But Deontay Wilder is not done with trying to meet Anthony Joshua in the ring. Former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder recently sent a direct but open message to Anthony Joshua, the former unified heavyweight champion and an Olympic medalist.

Below is Wilder’s statement.

‘Another thing I want to address is a fight that everyone is looking forward to and hopefully happens. I’m doing everything in my power to make it happen – I’m referring to the Anthony Joshua fight.

‘So Anthony – you’re hearing it from my mouth – I’m here, I’m ready, I’m ready to go. I heard some things your promoter said that my last fight only lasted a short period of time and I ain’t fought in a year and he don’t know if I want to fight or not. I’m letting you know right now, right here, I’m ready to fight man.’

Matchroom Sports owner’s son, Eddie Hearn had alleged that Deontay Wilder was the reason the fight failed to take place.

Hearn had said, ‘I don’t care about Deontay Wilder. He’s got his own problems; the guy ain’t fought for a year, and his last fight [a first-round knockout of Robert Helenius] was 40 seconds, so I think he don’t really want to fight.’

Both fighters have long been expected to fight, but the bout never materialised till they lost their titles to Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, whom many are hoping to unify the heavyweight title after its being divided for a long time.

‘Get in that ring,’ Wilder continued while calling out to Joshua. ‘Let’s make this the best time of our lives. This would be a major disaster if we were never able to get in the ring and put our stamp down in history, bro. When people think about classics and great fights, I want them to think about us.

‘The silliest thing I’ve heard is people saying you not ready. I think you’re ready, I hope you’re ready, so let’s make this happen … I look forward to seeing your response bro, I talk to you soon. Love, peace, God bless.’

According to Deontay Wilder’s message, the fight is now about legacy and history instead of titles.