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The only recent result that really shows where Joshua is as a heavyweight is still the Dubois move at Wembley – dropped early, legs gone, stopped in five as he tried to force his way through instead of stopping the fight. Ngannou’s knockout before that gave him a highlight, but it didn’t solve the same old problems: straight-line retreats, freezing under sustained pressure, and leaving his chin in range after a throw.
Wilder’s “We Must Meet” Phrase and What It Really Means
Deontay Wilder saying ‘we need to meet’” it sounds like a speech about destiny, but the context is that of a 40-year-old man with a 1-4 streak since 2020 and a focus on Tyrrell Herndon being sold as proof of life. This fight against Herndon was a job under the lights: Wilder dropped a willing companion twice, got in a few bullets and showed that his right hand always cracks when the other man doesn’t fight back with authority.
The quote is less a fine calling than a man searching for one last jackpot while his name still resonates. “We’re both still in this business” translates to “we’re both still valuable on a poster,” not “we’re at the top of the food chain.” A listening coach hears urgency, not confidence.
What could possibly go wrong for Joshua?
Stylistically, Joshua has always been vulnerable to what Wilder does even better than almost anyone: long, fast right hands thrown back over a broken rhythm. Joshua likes tidy phases – jab, jab, right hand, reset – and when the pattern gets messy he tends to straighten up, hold his feet too long and try to respond instead of killing the exchange, which is exactly when Wilder’s right comes on top.
The Dubois loss showed that Joshua still doesn’t handle panic rounds well: he got hurt early, never really reset his legs, and tried to hold on when he needed to choke, clinch, and take the air out of the fight. Against Wilder, an ego moment like that – staying in the pocket half a beat too long to “send a message” – is how a fight he controls suddenly makes him look at the lights.
What problem is Wilder currently causing?
Even toned down, Wilder’s threat is simple and ugly: he can lose every round and still turn the whole thing around with a single right if he can trick you into overcommitting. Herndon showed his timing wasn’t completely exhausted; he still found the distance when the other man’s release dropped, and once he saw the opening, he didn’t need many sharp touches to force the stop.
The real danger for Joshua lies in mental pacing, not physical damage accumulation: you can box clean, take rounds, then get greedy and throw one combination too many because you’re tired of winning with the jab. Wilder’s entire game is now built around this bad decision: slow fighting, low volume, then a sudden sprint to composure just as your discipline wanes.
What this fight exposes instead of proving
Joshua-Wilder in 2026 settles no debate about a mythical “epoch”; Fury, Usyk and Dubois have already written this story. What this reveals is whether Joshua can go twelve rounds without mentally collapsing when there is real power in front of him again, and whether Wilder has enough legs and timing to even create a real finishing opportunity, not just hope rights from too far away.
The match also shows how both men handle risk when there is no belt attached, just money and reputation. Take away the excuse of mandates and unquestioned politics and you see who still wants to get into a ring with their chin on the line just for pride and a check.
Business, timing and what’s actually possible
Usyk holding the major belts means this is a pure box office fight: no sanctioning body forcing it, no mandatory clock, just whether the Saudis or an American network think there’s enough juice left in both names to justify the guarantees. Paul’s numbers – 33 million viewers worldwide on Netflix – give Joshua powerful leverage; his camp can argue that they don’t need Wilder to sell out arenas or drive streaming traffic.
For Wilder, there is no bigger payday than Joshua; Usyk would be high risk, lower reward from a spectacle standpoint, and heavyweight contenders don’t bring in the same money. This is why you hear “I will almost certainly fight Joshua” – it’s not a vision, it’s a matter of economics.
If things go bad
If Joshua signs for Wilder and gets knocked out, wobbled and saved, it doesn’t matter – he stops being seen as a man capable of coming back for titles and becomes an expensive name for crossover events and prospects wanting a scalp. A second violent defeat in two years, plus Dubois’ collapse, would tell every heavyweight in the top ten that if you can make him think and punch at the same time, he’ll crack.
If things go wrong for Wilder – if Joshua drags him into a systematic beating, or even if he just goes for rounds and then finishes him off late once the legs are gone – the myth of the “punch” dies for good and it turns into pure nostalgia: highlight reels and guest of honor roles, not living dog status. Regardless, this fight, if it happens, will not rebuild careers; this definitely closes one.
