Olympic bronze medalist David Price has given his take on the potential heavyweight showdown between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder.

Last Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, Joshua returned to the ring and scored a knockout victory over late replacement Robert Helenius.

In the seventh round, Joshua closed the show with a single right hand.

Now the stage is nearly set for a potential clash with Wilder. The bout is targeted for a January date in Saudi Arabia.

Price was happy to see Joshua get some necessary rounds. There was a possibility of Joshua's return being canceled - after original opponent, Dillian Whyte, was pulled from the fight after testing positive for a banned substance. Helenius accepted the opportunity on a week's notice.

"I obviously think Joshua's got a better chance going into the fight, after Saturday night. If he hadn’t fought on Saturday night and went straight into the Wilder fight, I’d have given him little chance to be honest," Price said to Betway.

"It might have even worked out better for him that he fought Robert Helenius, because he's as tall as Deontay Wilder, so he's proved to himself that he can land the big shot on the tall man. Of course, he knows that anyway, but more recently he hasn't been able to do that.

"So, it might have worked better that he fought Robert Helenius rather than Dillion Whyte, who he’s already knocked out before and whose style was more suited to him. He proved that he can adapt at short notice, on Saturday night. The style of fighting was completely different, and it didn't affect them. He kept focused, stuck to a game plan, and got the big win."

For his part, Wilder has been out of the ring since knocking Helenius out in a single round in October of 2022.

He's had one round of action after two grueling defeats at the hands of Tyson Fury.

Price wonders if those damaging battles with Fury have taken something out of Wilder.

"After Saturday night, I think Joshua’s given himself a much bigger chance of going in and doing some damage. You definitely cannot write Anthony Joshua off in that fight because what he has got that Wilder hasn’t is the up-close firepower - the short-range to mid-range punch. And Anthony Joshua wins in that range every time against Deontay Wilder, and probably against most heavyweights, if not all of them. His uppercut, left hook, and right hook got him so many devastating knockouts early on in his career and could do the damage against Deontay Wilder," Price said.

"You've got to favor Deontay Wilder, based on the more recent form and his carefree attitude, in my opinion. But that being said, he's being in three grueling fights with Tyson Fury that might have taken something off him. It might have put miles on the clock. We didn't see evidence of it against Robert Helenius because it was over within a round, but 3, 4, 6 rounds deep into a fight with AJ, and he might show signs of those three fights – we’ll find out."