An early look at the upcoming year in boxing is anticipated with a slew of potentially explosive boxing matches. While no contracts have been signed to this point, a match between heavyweight Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua seems quite likely to meet in the ring.

The bout is likely to take place in the United Kingdom, and that would not be an issue for Wilder, an Alabama native. Wilder appears to have a huge advantage over most heavyweight fighters because of his tremendous punching power.

Malik Scott is Wilder's trainer, and he believes his fighter would have an easy time of it against Joshua. “The things I see Deontay doing to whatever version of Anthony Joshua shows up, mentally tough, not mentally tough, it's a three-round fight in my opinion,” Scott said.

It seems quite likely that a Wilder-Joshua fight would work in both fighters' interests. Wilder wants to get back to a championship level fight, while Joshua knows he must beat a fighter of Wilder's stature if he wants to challenge the winner of a fight between Tyson Fury and  Oleksandr Usyk.

The biggest issue in a fight between Wilder and Joshua would be how well Joshua would be able to handle his rival's punching power. Wilder has knocked down or knocked out all of his opponents to this point in his career, while Joshua has demonstrated a very strong chin on several occasions. His ability to keep his feet against an explosive opponent like Wilder might be his biggest test to date.

 

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