Boxing News and Views caught up with none other than Hall of Famer and current manager of WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, Mr. Shelly Finkel a short time ago.

I had the honour of speaking to Shelly for the first time both yesterday and earlier today with most of our conversations largely revolving around the fight that fans are screaming for at the moment.

A potential bout between current heavyweight champions Anthony Joshua (20-0-20KO) and Deontay Wilder (40-0-39KO).

Wilder came through his toughest test of his career to date last weekend when he overcame a scare in round seven to stop Luis Ortiz in the 10th round at the Barclays Center in New York.

When I asked Shelly on what is holding up the fight being made, he pointed to Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn:

“They don’t want to make the fight yet. Eddie keeps saying I can see the fight happening this year. If you really want to make the fight – why not just say let’s make the fight as soon as possible?”

He added:

“This is the fight that the world wants to see. This is the fight between the two top people in the heavyweight division.”

I asked him did he think Joshua and Wilder are the two biggest punchers in the division and does he think the fight will go end by knockout.

His answer was a simple one on both counts:

“Yes.”

As our conversation went on I wanted to bring up former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury who makes a return to the sport later this year.

When asked would Fury be someone who Wilder would fight as another option, Shelly said:

“We would fight Tyson Fury if we can’t get Joshua. Our number one goal is to fight Joshua and unify the division but if we can’t get him, yes, we would fight Fury.”

What a time to be a heavyweight at the moment.