Day of Reckoning: Joshua and Wilder to fight on same card in Saudi Arabia

Heavyweights Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder will fight on the same blockbuster card at Riyadh's Kingdom Arena on December 23 as a prelude to them finally meeting in 2024.

The event, billed as "Day of Reckoning", was announced at a London press conference on Wednesday and is the latest spectacular boxing show of Riyadh Season, the kingdom’s annual programme of arts, culture and entertainment.

Joshua (29-3), a two-time heavyweight champion, takes on the dangerous southpaw contender Otto Wallin while Wilder, the former WBC champion, faces New Zealand’s ex-WBO belt holder Joseph Parker.

Should they both be successful it is expected that Joshua and Wilder will finally meet next after many years of circling one another.

"I know where I want to go, what I want to do," said Joshua. "I am sticking to that plan. I am a man of my word, I stand firm on what I believe and I believe I am going to be three-time heavyweight champion of the world. My first stop to that, getting in the rankings, is putting on a demolishing job against Otto Wallin."

Asked if he sees himself fighting Wilder after Wallin, he said: "Yeah, I do. Good to luck to him but I 100 per cent see us fighting."

The eight-bout December 23 card replaces the postponed heavyweight unification fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk. Fury sustained unexpected punishment in his "Battle of the Baddest" showdown with ex-UFC star Francis Ngannou in Riyadh on October 28.

A press conference has been called for Thursday to announce a new date for Fury-Usyk, with February 17 thought to be most likely. That raises the possibility of Saudi Arabia cementing its status as the new home of heavyweight boxing by potentially hosting both Usyk-Fury and Joshua-Wilder in the first