Former two division world champion David Haye is advising Anthony Joshua to take an interim-fight with rival Dillian Whyte before a potential showdown with Deontay Wilder at the end of the year.
Joshua knocked Whyte out in seven rounds when they collided in late 2015.
The former two-time heavyweight champion was in action last month, when he picked up a twelve round decision wi over Jermaine Franklin.
He was being positioned for a summer rematch with Whyte, but lately he’s been discussing his goal of facing Wilder on a date in December in Saudi Arabia.
In the opinion of Haye, Joshua would be making a big mistake by sitting out until the end of the year. The bout with Franklin was his first with new head trainer Derrick James. For his part, Wilder has been inactive since blowing out Robert Helenius in one round in October 2022.
“If he believes that he can beat Wilder and he is going to take the fight, great, then fight Dillian before,” Haye told IFL TV. “Why not? It’s a great fight for the fans, Dillian comes to bring it, there will be a lot of people thinking that Dillian may be able to cause the upset and I think it will be a real, intense fight. It will be a lot more intense than him and Franklin the other night, which was like a sparring session.
“You are diminishing your chances of victory by having too long out of the ring. If Wilder wants to take that amount of time out of the ring, ok, if Anthony wants to give himself the best chance of victory, he needs to be active against a fighter who throws big hooks. The best person for that is Dillian, he throws some of the best hooks in the business, his left hook is one of the best in the game.”