Former undisputed heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield is crossing his fingers that a deal will get finalized for an April 2019 showdown between IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO unified champion Anthony Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs) and WBC champion Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs).
Holyfield was ringside at Wembley last Saturday night in London, and watched Joshua stop mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin in the seventh round.
Wilder is scheduled to defend his belt against former world champion Tyson Fury on December 1 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Should Wilder win, the attention will fall on facing Joshua on April 13 - which is the finalized date for the British star's return, also at Wembley.
Holyfield, a three time champion at heavyweight and a former unified champion at cruiserweight, expects a massive crowd to fill Wembley for Joshua-Wilder.
“It would be a great fight,” said Holyfield to The National. “When it’s all said and done you’re talking about what’s fair. Deontay was the heavyweight champion first, but with Joshua, he’s got all these people. I went to Saturday’s fight and there were 100,000 people coming to see him. It’s my first time seeing that ever in my life, to see a man, a boxer, draw that many people.
“I still think as a balance, both of them champions, somebody’s going to win and somebody’s going to lose. But when both people are that good, that’s when the promoter comes in, brings up the big money and gives everybody even money. If you think you’re the champ, you feel that you’re going to win. The whole big thing is what the fight would mean to the individual.”
Holyfield believes Wilder and Joshua are the type of action-packed fighters who are capable of bringing back the glory days of the heavyweight division from the 90s.
“I truly think they are. Because Joshua’s a good fighter and he knocks people out, people want to see it. Deontay’s not a skilful fighter, but he knocks people out. People want to see the action," Holyfield said.