By Keith Idec

According to promoter Frank Warren, the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder winner will prove himself as boxing’s best heavyweight.

Assuming Anthony Joshua beats mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin on September 22, he’ll still own four of boxing’s five heavyweight titles. The Fury-Wilder winner will own only the WBC championship, yet will have lineage on his side.

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The 30-year-old Fury (26-0, 19 KOs) gave up the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO titles he won when he upset Wladimir Klitschko to deal with addiction and mental health issues. Klitschko was considered the heavyweight champion when Fury out-boxed him in November 2015, thus no heavyweight has beat the man who beat the man.

England’s Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs) stopped Klitschko (64-5, 53 KOs), something Fury didn’t do, but Fury had already beaten the huge Ukrainian before Joshua faced him in April 2017 at London’s Wembley Stadium.

If England’s Fury defeats Italian veteran Francesco Pianeta (35-4-1, 21 KOs) on Saturday night in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he’ll challenge Alabama’s Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) for the WBC heavyweight title in November in Las Vegas.

“Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury, it’s the biggest fight out there,” Warren said Tuesday at a press conference in Belfast to promote the Fury-Pianeta fight. “You tell me a bigger fight that’s taking place. This fight’s gonna happen. It will happen. You tell me something that’s bigger than that. Huge fight. It’s a big fight because these guys wanna see who’s the best. And the winner of that fight, if it happens, the winner of that fight will be the best heavyweight in the world.

“They won’t go with begging bowls to Anthony Joshua. They will be No. 1. The fans will know it, and they’re the people that matter. The fans will know who are the two guys that stepped up to the plate, who are the two guys getting in the ring to prove they’re the best, who’ve got the balls to do it.”

Showtime will stream the Fury-Pianeta fight and the Carl Frampton-Luke Jackson match on Saturday from Windsor Park (4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT). Belfast’s Frampton (25-1, 14 KOs) and Australia’s Jackson (16-0, 7 KOs) will square off for the WBO’s interim featherweight title in 12-round main event.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.