Dmitriy Salita, promoter for heavyweight contender Otto Wallin, indicates that he's held conversations with Eddie Hearn for a 2023 collision with Anthony Joshua.

Joshua is looking to recover after suffering back to back decision losses to unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.

The British superstar is aiming to return in the first half of the coming year.

Dillian Whyte has been mentioned as a frontrunner, but now other boxers are being mentioned after Whyte was nearly derailed last month in a close points win over heavy underdog Jermaine Franklin.

Back in 2019, Wallin nearly shocked current WBC champion Tyson Fury. During the fight, Fury suffered two severe cuts and at times it appeared the fight would be stopped by the ringside doctor. However, Fury was able to overcome the injuries to win a twelve round unanimous decision. 

"I had discussions with Eddie about Otto for a significant amount of time and as late as last week. From what I understand it’s really up to AJ. I believe he wants to place himself back in the heavyweight picture," Salita told The Sun.

"Both Otto and AJ want a shot at Fury. By the numbers Otto landed more punches on Fury than anyone else ever. I believe the winner of that fight will have legitimate claim to challenge Fury probably after his fight with Oleksandr Usyk."

Salita, who also promotes Franklin, highly disagrees with Whyte being tabbed to face Joshua next.

"Whyte is 1-2 and in reality 1-3 in his last four fights. A fight with Joshua would be something like Roy Jones vs Mike Tyson or Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor, big names but not much behind it at this point," Salita said. "Even if it’s not against Jermaine, Whyte needs an impressive showing against someone credible to show that he still got the skills to pay the bills at an elite heavyweight level. 

"Otto Wallin on the other hand gave Tyson Fury the hardest fight of his career, landing more punches then Wladimir Klitchko and Deontay Wilder 1 put together. He had four wins after that including Dominic Breazeale and Travis Kauffman, both credible at time of his victory. Otto is No3 in the WBO and is a bonafide top heavyweight in the world.  

"There have been lots of big names thrown around with Joshua including Tyson and Wilder.   How serious that is will depend on who he fights next."