Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder: WBC president wants winner to face Anthony Joshua in ‘ultimate’ fight

Wilder and Fury fight each other in Los Angeles on 1 December for the American’s WBC heavyweight title, the one belt that Joshua is yet to get his hands on

Anthony Joshua fighting the winner of Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury is the WBC's “ultimate goal”, says president Mauricio Sulaiman.

Wilder and Fury fight each other in Los Angeles on 1 December for the American’s WBC heavyweight title, the one belt that Joshua is yet to get his hands on.

After defending his titles against mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin in September, Joshua has free reign to select his next opponent and has Wembley booked for a fight in April.

The British world champion was in negotiations with Wilder for a fight to unify the heavyweight division, although relationships between the two camps broke down, although the American would almost certainly be in line to fight Joshua if victorious against Fury.

“The WBC convention was very clear in terms of looking for the ultimate goal [for] the winner of the fight to do the fight with Anthony Joshua,” Silaiman told Boxing News. “Our ruling was clear to state that if that fight is to proceed, to go in that direction then the mandatory [situation] will be solved. That’s been clear and that’s been put on paper in black and white.

“Because that’s our obligation, we have to support it. That is a fight the world wants to see. However Wilder-Fury is a major fight in itself. That fight is as big as any fight. I’m very happy at the moment we’re going through in the heavyweight division.”

Following his eighth round knockout against Tony Bellew, Oleksandr Usyk could make the jump to heavyweight and face Joshua, but Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, believes that be the undisputed cruiserweight champion would be better off fighting the winner of Dillian Whyte vs Dereck Chisora.

Elsewhere, Sulaiman added that Wilder will look elsewhere if an agreement with Joshua cannot be reached. Dominic Breazeale, beat by Joshua in 2016, is the mandatory WBC contender and could be next to face Wilder. “He has been inactive but he has been inactive due to the WBC’s 2018 commitment to trying to make Wilder-Joshua. He accepted that. So we cannot go against and hurt him for being honourable,” said Sulaiman.” He said I understand, it’s a great, big fight and they were negotiating for a long time and it didn’t materialise. Breazeale is fighting in December to be active and we’ll see what happens. After December 1 many doors will be opened.

“Dillian Whyte-[Dereck] Chisora that’s a major fight. You have Ortiz, you have Breazeale who’s a top fighter. The two champions Wilder and Joshua.

“It’s an era, it’s booming. Boxing was born in England 300 years ago. It went on, moved to other countries, now it’s a global sport for one century or more. But what we’re going through this year is simply unexpected. It’s through the hard work of individuals and groups and I’m just proud and happy to see it. It was long due.”