For several years, boxing fans and critics alike have championed Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder as a dream pairing in the heavyweight division.
Though they might have missed out on the opportunity to hold the fight for undisputed heavyweight glory — as Wilder lost his WBC title to Tyson Fury and Joshua relinquished his unified championship to Oleksandr Usyk — a fight between "The Bronze Bomber" and "AJ" would seemingly still thrill.
Even as Joshua prepares to clash with Robert Helenius, a late replacement for Dillian Whyte, at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday night, there's an element of Wilder attached to the fight.
That's because, after being knocked out by Fury in February 2020 and again in October 2021 for the only two losses of his career, Wilder returned to the ring against none other than Robert Helenius in October 2022.
With the backdrop being Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Helenius lunged in with a left hand to the body to which Wilder countered with a short right that dropped his former sparring partner flat on his back for an electric first-round KO.
While Joshua's style is different, he does own an 88-percent knockout clip with 22 of his 25 victories coming by the way of stoppage.
That being said, knowing what Wilder did to Helenius, it's not to say that Joshua needs a first-round knockout of his own to match that of the former WBC champion. But one would argue that it would behoove Wilder to make quick work of Helenius and a statement of his own.
Quite naturally, then, lingering buzz around a possible Joshua-Wilder fight can further take shape and blossom to fruition someday in the near future.