Eddie Hearn, promoter for Anthony Joshua, believes his boxer's top choice for an interim-fight is fellow former champion Deontay Wilder.

Both boxers would be coming off defeats - although the contest is unlikely to happen.

Joshua lost his WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO heavyweight belts last September, when he was outboxed over twelve rounds by Oleksandr Usyk.

A month later, Wilder was knocked out in the eleventh round of his sensational trilogy fight with Tyson Fury.

Since suffering his knockout loss, Wilder has not solidified his decision to remain in the sport and there is no timeline for a return.

Joshua had been scheduled to face Usyk in a contracted rematch - with the date likely to land in May.

That scenario is now on hold, after Usyk returned to his homeland of Ukraine to assist local military forces with their resistance against the ongoing invasion by Russia.

There is timeline on how long the military conflict will play out. It could be a few more weeks and it could be a few months.

Hearn is already looking at the scenario of an interim-fight to keep Joshua busy.

Some of names being kicked around include Luis Ortiz, Otto Wallin and Joe Joyce - but Hearn feels Joshua would love for Wilder to be the opponent.

“We’ve got to look at the opponents. AJ was talking last night about Luis Ortiz, Otto Wallin – a southpaw, the same as Usyk, might make sense. Joe Joyce, even AJ talked about Deontay Wilder," Hearn told IFL TV,

“I think if you said to AJ right now, ‘Who’s your top choice?’ I think he’d probably go for Deontay Wilder. It’s not an interim fight, let’s be honest. One thing’s for sure, he’ll be fighting a top ten heavyweight, a world ranked heavyweight."