Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder: Main Event

Talks for a fight between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder have been going on for quite a few years. This year, it appeared that the bout would finally take place between the two heavyweight boxers. But as it eventually turned out, this year would prove itself an exception. 

Interestingly, when the talks were on, it appeared that Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder could fight at the December 23 event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk undisputed battle was supposed to headline the star-studded occasion. 

However, in the end, the fight between the two reigning heavyweight champions got postponed to February 17. 

Thankfully, for the millions of eager fans and followers, it was decided that the event would carry on, but with a caveat. Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder wouldn't be fighting each other. 

Instead, both would be facing different opponents. While ‘AJ’ would be going up against WBA intercontinental heavyweight champion Otto Wallin, ‘The Bronze Bomber’ will fight IBF and WBO intercontinental heavyweight champion Joseph Parker from New Zealand. 

Let’s see the individual journeys of the two former world champions leading up to the mega event billed as ‘The Day of Reckoning.' 

Since the first career loss to Andy Ruiz Jr., Anthony Joshua’s stock went on a downward spiral. Though he defeated Ruiz Jr. and defended his titles from Kubrat Pulev, the two back-to-back losses and surrendering of his titles to Oleksandr Usyk did further damage to his reputation. 

Thus, it was critical for ‘AJ’ to stage a comeback. In April of this year, he defeated Jermaine Franklin unanimously. Four months later, proving that the win over Franklin wasn’t an aberration, he knocked the wits out of Robert Helenius in the seventh round. So basically, Joshua has been gradually scaling up his game before taking up the next big fight.

Was the third fight of the year, against Wallin, part of a plan to improve Anthony Joshua with each fight? 

In the last three years, Deontay Wilder has had only one win. He too, like Anthony Joshua, suffered consecutive defeats to Tyson Fury. Then last year, he fought Robert Helenius and knocked him out in the opening round of the fight on October 15. 

But unlike Joshua, ‘The Bronze Bomber’ didn’t participate in any interim fights during the last 12 months. 

However, there’s a lot of hope that both Joshua and Wilder could finally have a meet-up by the first quarter of 2024. In the meantime, WBC made its stand clear and mentioned that it was treating the Riyadh event as a mandatory title eliminator. 

All the main card boxers are ranked fighters, so if Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder emerge as winners on Saturday, then that will pave the way for a mandatory challenger to fight the winner of Fury versus Usyk. 

Recently, rumor mills were rife with talks of a deal finalized for March 9. However, as it turned out, the news seemed purely speculative, as Team Wilder confirmed that no such agreement has been reached so far.

Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder: Fight Card 

While the Riyadh event is about Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder, there are other exciting line-ups, including a world title defense, arranged to entertain the viewers. 

Let’s look at some of the other matches that will take place on the Joshua-Wilder undercard. 

1. Dmitry Bivol versus Lyndon Arthur: The undefeated WBA (Super) light heavyweight champion from Russia (21-0-0) will meet the Mancunian Lyndon Arthur (23-1-0) more than a year after he defended his title from Gilberto Ramirez in November last year.

Arthur became the IBO light heavyweight champion on September 1 after he defeated Braian Nahuel Suarez in Bolton, England.

2. Daniel Dubois versus Jarell Miller: Dubois (19-2-0), the 26-year-old Londoner, will face the American heavyweight Jarrell Miller (26-0-1). While the English boxer joins the ring after his second career loss to unified champion Oleksandr Usyk in August, Miller, on the other hand, remains unbeaten, with a win via technical knockout over Lucas Browne in March this year.

3. Jai Opetaia versus Ellis Zorro: Unbeaten Australian cruiserweight from Sydney, Jai Opetaia (23-0-0), who defended his IBF and Ring cruiserweight titles from Jordan Thompson on September 30, will get into the ring once again to face London-born Ellis Zorro’s (17-0-0). 

In the latest development, Opetaia vacated his IBF title after the sanctioning body directed him to face the mandatory challenger, Mairis Breidis, whom he had defeated last year to become the champion.

Zorro had defeated Luca D’Ortenzi on October 6 to become the WBO European cruiserweight champion.

4. Arslanbek Makhmudov versus Agit Kabayel: Russia-born Canadian heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov (18-0-0) defended his WBC-NABF heavyweight title from Junior Anthony Wright two months ago. 

He will meet the German, Agit Kabayel (23-0-0), who won the vacant European heavyweight championship in March this year. The bout is for the Kurdish-German boxer’s European title.

5. Frank Sanchez versus Junior Fa: WBC Continental Americas heavyweight champion from Cuba, Frank Sanchez (23-0-0), will face New Zealander Junior Fa (20-2-0). 

While the Cuban defended his title on September 30, on the Canelo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo card, Junior Fa, after two consecutive defeats, including one to Joseph Parker, scored a victory two months ago against Tussi Asafo.

6. Filip Hrgovic versus Mark De Mori: Undefeated Croatian boxer Filip Hrgovic (16-0-0) will face 41-year-old Australian heavyweight Mark De Mori (41-2-2). Hrgovic knocked out Demsey McKean on August 12 on the Anthony Joshua-Robert Helenius card.

De Mori, on the other hand, is reported to have scored a unanimous victory over Michael Speed Sigarlaki on September 10.

Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder: Ticket Details 

According to 'eticketing.co,’ the price of the tickets for the Joshua-Wallin main card at the venue, Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, which can accommodate over twenty-six thousand viewers, starts from £165, $203, or €188 per ticket for Upper Tier.

The highest price has been slated for Royal Row A, wherein each entry would lighten the wallet by £2475, $3044, or €2822. 

But please note that portals such as ‘gigsberg.com’ have reported the following information: 

“There are no tickets available for the event at the moment. Please enter your email address, and we will update you as soon as tickets become available.” 

On the other hand, websites such as 'stubhub.ie' show prices starting from €100, which corresponds to £86.27 or $109.19. It goes up to €1595, $1741.56, and £1376.01.

Where to Watch Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder: PPV Price and Live Stream 

Live coverage of the Anthony Joshua-Otto Wallin and Deontay Wilder-Joseph Parker matches will be shown exclusively by DAZN PPV. The price per pay-per-view has been fixed at £19.99 for customers viewing from the United Kingdom. 

In the United States, it will cost around $39.99. For the remaining places, depending on the prevailing currency conversion at their place, it's been slated at $21.99.

According to talkSPORT, those who have a subscription with TNT Sports can view the matches after shelling out an additional £19.99.  

It should be noted that viewing DAZN has now become very easy, thanks to its compatibility with a wide variety of devices and platforms. Let’s check out a few for easy reference: 

Mobile Phones: iPhone, Android phone, iPad, Amazon Fire tablet

Television and Other Streaming Services: Android and Apple TVs, Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Hisense, SMartcast, Smart TVs (LG, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony) 

Game Stations: PS 4 and 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X | S 

Date and timings for Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder 

Let’s look at the date and time of the big match:-

So, according to available details, the start time of the event and the main event with ring walks are as follows: 

Event Time (begins): 8 a.m. Pacific Time; 11 a.m. Eastern Time; 4 p.m. United Kingdom 

Main Event Ring Walks (expected): 6:45 p.m. Eastern Time; 11:45 p.m. United Kingdom

Please note that all the timings mentioned above are approximate, as they are subject to change depending on how long the undercard and preliminary card bouts go on.