Former super middleweight champion Carl Froch is backing Deontay Wilder to blast out Anthony Joshua in a single round.

The two former world champions will appear on the same card on December 23rd in Saudi Arabia.

Joshua will appear in the main event against top contender Otto Wallin, while Wilder will face former champion Joseph Parker in the co-main.

Should Joshua and Wilder prevail in their respective fights, there is a good chance of them colliding in the ring in the first half of 2024.

While Froch believes Wilder will take Joshua down in one, he also believes the British star is capable of winning that fight if he abandons his current style of fighting in a more cautious manner.

“Deontay Wilder knocks him spark out in one round, I’ve always said that and I still think it is true. Wilder would come out in the first round looking for AJ, who is tentative at the best of times, but he is now afraid of his own shadow these days. I think Wilder catches him with a bomb that lands on his chin and he goes down and just does not get up," Froch told the In The Zone podcast.

“Whether he can get up or not, he won’t want to. That’s the reason these two aren’t fighting now, because if that happens his career is over and the curtain comes down for good. However, if he gets his head right, he can definitely win that fight!

“He’s with Ben Davison now as his trainer, Rob McCracken should be his trainer because he would get his head right for that fight, but the respect has gone now so they will never get back together again.

“The old AJ that brawled with Dillian Whyte, knocked out Wladimir Klitschko after getting knocked down and busted up Carlos Takam after getting his nose butted can definitely win that fight and do a job there because Deontay Wilder and AJ has got the Olympic pedigree so he can go and outbox him.”