DEONTAY WILDER has been urged by his sparring partner to fight Anthony Joshua next year.
But Joshua is warned no other heavyweight on the planet bar Tyson Fury has proven capable of taking Wilder’s shots.
American Jim Torney, 34, helped the former champion with two week’s worth of sparring before the epic trilogy bout with Fury.
Wilder, who scored two knockdowns in round four, was floored three times in total but fought until the bitter end, when he was finished in the 11th.
He is set to undergo surgery next week for a broken hand, but is in line to return by May 2022.
And training partner Torney picked long-time rival AJ as the perfect opponent upon Wilder’s return.
He told SunSport: “I would love to see the Anthony Joshua fight.
“His team and D know what’s best for him, but I think probably they will try to make that fight happen eventually.
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“Whether he does a comeback fight first and then goes for AJ, he’ll be ready.
“His team will decide what’s best to do, but that would be an awesome fight for the fans.”
Torney, who perfectly matches up with Fury’s 6ft 9in and 19 stone frame, felt first hand the force of Wilder’s right hand.
The Gypsy King twice got off the canvas in their 2018 original, and won the rematch with a one-sided seven beatdown last year.
But the heavyweight stars saved the best till last with their trilogy decider going down as an instant classic.
It saw Fury again rise from the floor two times, this time to win, and Torney admits Britain’s unbeaten WBC champion could be the only man capable of doing so.
But I don’t see anyone right now that’s proven themselves to get up off the canvas from a guy like Wilder, other than Fury.”
Deontay Wilder’s sparring partner Jim Torney
He said: “I don’t think anyone takes those other than Fury.
“And that’s only because you have to go off people’s past experiences, and Fury has got up in the past. AJ is a tough, tough dude.
“He got up against Andy Ruiz, so I think if he could get up he would but I just don’t know whether he could weather the storm for another seven, eight rounds.
“He didn’t prove he could against Ruiz, but he’s a tough dude and you have to give him credit.
“But I don’t see anyone right now that’s proven themselves to get up off the canvas from a guy like Wilder, other than Fury.”
Joshua, 31, was beaten by Oleksandr Usyk, 34, in September and is now set for a rematch with the Ukrainian.
Meanwhile Fury, 33, will be ordered to face the winner between Dillian Whyte, 33, and Otto Wallin, 30, who fight at the end of the month.
Wilder, 35, again faces a rebuilding job, but his reputation was restored after a brave and gutsy performance against Fury.
He did so under the guidance of new coach Malik Scott, the man he actually knocked out in 2014, before building a friendship.
Torney, 4-0 in his career, backed the Bronze Bomber – who has 41 KOs in 42 wins – to come back better than ever, quashing any threat of retirement.
He said: “I know a lot of guys say this when they’re leading up to big fights, that this is ‘best camp’ they’ve ever had.
“But watching D, he was all of 230-pounds in camp and athletically he doesn’t look like he’s ageing.
“So yeah, I think the best is yet to come from Wilder.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
