Bernstein: Wilder's Best Chance To Win is To KO Joshua Early

Showtime Sports expert analyst Al Bernstein is really looking forward to the possibility of a 2018 showdown between undefeated heavyweight champions Anthony Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs) and Deontay Wilder (39-0, 38 KOs).

The two boxers are being lined up to make voluntary title defenses in the first quarter of the new year.

Joshua, who holds the WBA, IBF, IBO world titles, will likely defend his belts against WBO champion Joseph Parker in a unification to land on a date in March or April. Wilder is going to make a defense of his WBC title against undefeated Cuban puncher Luis Ortiz on March 3rd at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

If both champions come through in their upcoming bouts, there will be enormous pressure to seem them collide at some point in the year.

Bernstein believes each boxer is capable of scoring a knockout win - but he feels Wilder's best chance is to get that knockout in the first few rounds - because the veteran announcer says Joshua might gain an advantage if the fight plays out to the second half.

"I will say that the way that this is going for both fighters, it starts to feel like it’s whoever gets to who first. Although, we’ve seen Anthony Joshua in trouble and come back from it, we haven’t seen Wilder in that kind of difficulty come back," Bernstein told On The Ropes Boxing Radio.

"I think Wilder’s best chance in that fight is to get him out in the first three or four rounds. I believe if the fight goes on, Joshua’s strength could be an impact, but we’ll see. Joshua is probably technically a better fighter than Wilder. Wilder is quicker, has better movement, is more difficult to figure out because he’s so unorthodox and unconventional sometimes.

"Both fighters have certain things that they can bring into this fight as a plus. Boxing has had a great year in 2017, and heading into 2018, it’s looking like all great matches are being made for this coming year as well. The Wilder-Joshua fight would go along way toward putting boxing right back on a path it should be and it would help build on 2017, which was really special."