Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder still needs to happen, but what’s next?

Anthony Joshua, the WBA, IBF and WBO world heavyweight champion, will face Alexander Povetkin at Wembley Stadium in London on Sept. 22. It’s not the fight that boxing fans wanted out of Joshua, who is one of the biggest names in the sport.

Most wanted Joshua to face Deontay Wilder in a world title unification bout, and fans have been strung along for quite awhile while that fight’s negotiations have been very public and very ugly. Wilder is the WBC title holder in the weight class, and the prospect of a unification bout for all four major world titles is incredibly tantalizing for fans.

But there are reasons the fight isn’t up next beyond “negotiations” not going well.

Joshua, as noted, holds three titles, and one of them was in jeopardy. Specifically, the WBA belt could have been stripped from Joshua if he didn’t meet the deadline to negotiate his next fight, either with Povetkin or Wilder. The WBA had already granted Joshua’s camp an extra month to get a deal done, but eventually mandated that a resolution had to be reached “with immediate effect” on June 27.

While fans (and Joshua) wanted the Wilder fight the most, it makes sense for Joshua to defend the belt to appease the WBA while pushing the Wilder fight back. Joshua wants to keep his titles intact, and the only way to do that is to keep active.

It’s also worth noting that Povetkin isn’t a pushover by any means. He’s 34-1 with 24 knockouts to his name, and will be Joshua’s toughest test since he knocked out Wladimir Klitschko in 2017. Since then, Joshua has stopped Carlos Takam and won a unanimous decision over Joseph Parker.

Many question Povetkin’s status as the mandatory challenger for the WBA belt given he has twice failed drug tests in the past, but he’s won his last eight fights since himself losing to Klitschko in 2013. His last fight was a fifth-round knockout of David Price in March 2018.

The WBC’s No. 2 fighter is Dominic Breazeale, and if Wilder wants or needs to stay active in advance of a future unification bout, taking care of his mandatory challenger should be doable. Like Povetkin, Breazeale doesn’t represent a for-sure win for the champion, but Wilder will be favored in such a bout.

Breazeale is 19-1 with 17 knockouts on his record. His lone loss is to Joshua, but since then has beaten Izu Ugonoh and Eric Molina on the undercard of Wilder’s fights. Breazeale is confident that he has what it takes to beat Wilder, claiming to PremierBoxingChampions.com that he has observed “a lot more weaknesses than I’ve seen strengths.”

Joshua vs. Wilder is the absolute biggest fight that can be made in boxing right now. And it will still be the biggest after both guys have defended their titles again, provided they are successful defenses.

Provided Joshua wins and provided Wilder either fights and wins or remains on the sidelines, the two sides already have a planned unification bout for April 13, 2019. That’s a long way off, but both boxers will hopefully have another win apiece by the time it comes around.

All aspects of said April 2019 bout are not fully confirmed, with the contract not yet set in stone. Joshua is contracted to fight at Wembley on that date, but Wilder has to agree to it, and that likely includes a lot of specifics we’ll never know about.

But fans are very likely to get the unification bout they want, just a lot later than they hoped.