Indeed, a Saudi Arabian delegation were in London, and according to Joshua’s promoter Hearn, had been on site to conclude a deal with Joshua to fight Wilder, expected to be early next year. The mega-fight will reportedly earn Joshua $60 million (£47 million). And if successful – more money, more potential glory – in a showdown with Fury.
There will be comparisons in this performance against the Finn, with Wilder, a former WBC heavyweight champion, who knocked Helenius out in one round last October. Joshua, it seems, is rebuilding in this growing, six-month relationship Dallas-based trainer Derrick James after having beaten Jermaine Franklin under the American coach here in April.
“Ignore it,” Joshua had said of the multi-million pound carrot being dangled to fight ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder. “One step at a time,” Joshua had said before this performance, now part of the masterplan and the huge financial underwriting game the Saudi Arabian’s are bringing together, including current WBC champion Tyson Fury against former UFC mixed martial arts heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, which will take place in the Middle East in October. All four big names in the heavyweight division – Joshua, Wilder, Fury and Oleksandr Usyk – will be matched up against each other in that part of the world next year.
Earlier, two veteran heavyweights Derek Chisora, 39, and Gerald Washington, 41, battled in an entertaining contest in which the old British war horse – accompanied by his daughters on his ring walk – gave his all in a close 10-round fight with his right eye cut early in the fight, the American controlling the range, tying up the home fighter and landing powerfully with uppercuts in the early rounds. Chisora came back in the middle rounds to win by unanimous decision. Intriguingly, Washington has a knockout win over Helenius on his record.
On a card replete with heavyweight contests, undefeated Croatian Filip Hrgovic stopped Australian southpaw Demsey McKean, the winner now in line to challenge either Usyk or Daniel Dubois, based on the outcome of Usyk’s defence of the IBF, WBA and WBO title in Poland in two weeks’ time. Hrgovic, now the IBF mandatory challenger, is unbeaten in 16 professional fights since claiming a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games. McKean’s name had been linked to Joshua as a potential replacement opponent last week. And popular London heavyweight ’Romford Bull’ Johnny Fisher stopped Harry Armstrong in round seven in his tenth fight, the 24-year-old prospect claiming the Southern Area heavyweight title against his 30-year-old adversary, to the delight of his growing ‘Bosh Army’.
A week ago, Helenius was in action winning by knockout in a 15th century medieval castle in Finland. A week later, ‘The Nordic Nightmare’ filled the brief and became the victim of a rejuvenated Joshua. Now Wilder awaits with dynamite in his hands in the dunes, in a difficult, difficult fight early next year. And if Joshua can pull off the improbable in the Middle East, that richest British blockbuster fight of all times with ‘Gypsy King’ Fury could be on the cards again – for a third time – late in the summer of 2024.
