Heavyweight boxing super stars, Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder, will fight at the blockbuster “Day of Reckoning” pay-per-view (PPV) event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this weekend (Dec. 23, 2023) massive … just not against each other.
Joshua will headline the mega DAZN-streamed event opposite Otto Wallin, while Wilder will face the ever-dangerous knockout artist, Joseph Parker, in the co-headlining act.
But, if all goes well and both Joshua and Wilder come out on top, the two men will finally collide in the first quarter of 2024 after they agreed on a two-fight deal for the upcoming year.
That’s according to long-time boxing reporter, Dan Rafael.
“Joshua, Wilder agree to ALL terms on 2-fight deal, contracts expected to be signed ahead of their Saturday bouts on Day of Reckoing,” wrote Rafael on X.
Of course, a loss by either man could derail those plans, leaving plenty of fight fans disappointed. That’s the reason Wilder claims he isn’t 100 percent certain that the potential big-money fight(s) against “A.J.” will ever happen.
“That’s the biggest fight in the world,” Wilder told Sky Sports (via MMA Junkie). “Now the moment has come where it’s the closest that it’s ever been in history right now. The closest that it’s ever been. I’m excited to say that,” he added, before saying there are still so many things that have to go right before the first fight can takes place, which is penciled in for March 9, 2024.
“I’m not 100 percent sure that it’s going to happen,” he concluded. “There’s a lot of things that has gone on, a lot of things that has been done. You can’t be 100 percent until that bell rings and that first punch has been thrown.”
A Joshua vs. Wilder showdown has been at the top of the list for fight fans for some time now, though peak interest reached when both men had titles. Momentum slowed a bit after Wilder dropped back-to-back fights (as well as his belts) to Tyson Fury, while Joshua went winless (0-2) against Oleksandr Usyk in consecutive fights, costing him his belts, too.
Still, the two hard-hitting big men are on a collision course, but they have to make sure they don’t look too far ahead because Wallin and Parker possess heavy hands that can ruin their nights … and their future plans.
And we all know how that goes.
To order the “Day of Reckoning” pay-per-view (PPV) event on DAZN click HERE. For more boxing-related news and notes click here.