ANTHONY JOSHUA’s long-awaited showdown with Deontay Wilder could be finalised in as little as two weeks.
Talks for the former unified and WBC heavyweight champions, 33 and 37 respectively, to finally throw down began last month.
AJ promoter Eddie Hearn flew to Saudi last week to get the wheels in motion for a December dust-up – which would be part of a four-man tournament involving Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.
And the Matchroom Boxing chief believes the next fortnight will be pivotal in finalising the grudge match.
The 43-year-old told Matchroom’s YouTube channel: “We know, having worked with them before, that we can get a deal done.
“And really, that’s what we’re looking to do this week and next week.
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“Just look at that situation and decide if theres a fight – which will now be early August – for Anthony Joshua. If he does fight before then.
“I would like him to, I think Derrick James would and I think AJ would. But we’ll have to see how those talks evolve with Deontay Wilder.
“We just made for clear to them. Our message was, ‘AJ is ready for all of those fights and is happy to agree to a Deontay Wilder fight in December.’
“And we’ll see if we can close terms in the next couple of weeks.”
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Hearn is optimistic his long-running relationship with the Saudis will bear fruit and one of the biggest fights in the recent history of the sport will come to fruition.
He said: “We got a great relationship with Prince Khalid and Skills Challenge.
“We’re the only ones to have done two big two boxing events, if you like, with Joshua-Ruiz and Joshua-Usyk.
“We’ll see [what happens]. They want to make that night, they want to do Joshua against Wilder and Fury against Usyk.
“I think, from conversations, that the Usyk conversations, that the Wilder conversations have gone very well. For us, we’re in.
“We need to finalise terms, but we just said to Prince Khalid, ‘That’s the fight we want.'”
Joshua was last in action last month, turning in a less-than-spectacular performance in his return to the win column against American Jermaine Franklin at The O2.
Wilder, meanwhile, hasn’t set foot inside the ring since his vicious one-punch knockout of former sparring partner Robert Helenius last October.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
