Why Deontay Wilder finally wants to get Anthony Joshua into the ring – before Alexander Povetkin does

On a memorable Saturday evening some two-and-a-half months ago, it took a beaming Anthony Joshua just a matter of seconds to catch his breath and recalibrate his primary objective, as the risk-averse Joseph Parker stalked back towards his dressing room nursing precious few bruises but a comprehensively battered ego.

With four world titles now precariously draped across his huge frame, Joshua let rip, finally blowing off some steam after so diligently adhering to the strictest and savviest of punch-by-punch agendas. “Wilder. Let's go baby, let's go,” he shouted, to the delight of his travelling army. “I don’t believe the hype around him. Let’s get the business done and let's see what the future holds because I'm down for whatever, whenever. Get him in the ring and I'll knock him spark out.”

It felt like something of a defining statement from Joshua: a thoroughly modern boxing champion with far more of a commercial interest in staying humble than breathlessly calling out his innumerable rivals. But in the sweat-glazed aftermath, as the adrenaline continued to pump around his body, Joshua spoke from the heart. He wanted Wilder. And he wanted him next.

There has been precious little clarity since. Eddie Hearn quickly promised that there was “absolutely no question” Joshua would face Wilder in 2018. Negotiations commenced in New York – and quickly stalled. Wilder emailed Joshua offering $50m against 50% of the event revenue. And, finally, the Joshua camp began to turn their attention elsewhere.

Until this week, that is, when Wilder declared via social media that he had accepted Joshua’s terms for an autumn fight, just when it was beginning to look that he would meet WBA mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin, instead.

“The $50m offer for Joshua to fight me next in the US is still available to him if he wants it,” Wilder wrote on Twitter. “In addition to that, today I agreed to their offer to fight Joshua next in the UK – If Joshua prefers the fight in the UK. The ball is in their court. It's up to them to choose US or UK. I'm in.”

The rallying didn’t stop there. “If he prefers the fight in the UK, the ball is in their court. It’s up to them to choose,” Hearn returned on Tuesday. “I think if it is before Povetkin then it runs on October/November. It’s all come as a bit of a shock that Deontay’s finally come back to us on the offer and seems to accept the terms. Now we have to find out if it’s bluster or if it’s real.”

Hearn has played his hand well. The WBA gave Joshua 30-days to negotiate with Povetkin after he pummelled David Price into submission on the Parker undercard, at which point the increasingly sensationalist transatlantic negotiations between Hearn and Wilder co-promoter Shelly Finkel mysteriously began to die down. Instead the wrangling was relocated behind closed doors, as Wilder began to face up to the possibility that Joshua was going to keep him hanging.

The terms currently being mooted – a guaranteed sell-out stadium fight in the UK before a potential rematch overseas– make sense, particularly as a Wilder victory would finally reignite interest in boxing’s blue-riband division in the States. Joshua is also known to be keen to make a breakthrough in the US, having spent his entire 21-fight career boxing in Britain.

But it is entirely unsurprising that the Joshua camp remain suspicious of Wilder’s newfound commitment to agreeing to one of the biggest fights in the history of boxing. US television rights could also prove problematic: Winkel would prefer a deal with Showtime, while Hearn will no doubt want to involve Perform Group's DAZN sports streaming service, which is due to launch in the US later this summer.

And then, of course, there is Povetkin, who has waited patiently for his shot at the WBA strap since out-pointing Christian Hammer in the frozen climes of Ekaterinburg, south-west Russia, all the way back in December. “I see no reason why Joshua would not want to fight Povetkin as his next opponent,” his promoter, Andrey Ryabinskiy sniffed late last month.

Ultimately however avoiding Povetkin makes sense for both Joshua and Wilder. And while the Russian has perhaps unfairly been afforded little chance of becoming the first man to defeat Joshua, a shock result would scupper what is likely to become one of the most lucrative fights in modern boxing history.

Instead he may well be forced to wait patiently for his shot at the first man in heavyweight history to hold the WBA, WBO, WBC and IBF belts in unison. That’s evidently the outcome the entire boxing world hopes for – although it remains to be seen if that is the one they will get.