Anthony Joshua's long-awaited bout with Deontay Wilder has encountered yet another delay, pushing the potential match to March at the earliest, according to reports from mirror.co.uk.

Initially, Joshua had hoped to lock horns with his rival in December or January in the Middle East. However, due to this latest setback, Joshua is now expected to engage in an interim fight before potentially facing the American in the spring. In his most recent bout in August, Joshua defeated Robert Helenius, only for it to be revealed later that Helenius had failed a pre-fight drug test.

Additionally, Joshua has an opportunity to contend for the IBF world title if it becomes vacant after Tyson Fury's anticipated undisputed bout with Oleksandr Usyk, scheduled for December 23 in Saudi Arabia. Eddie Hearn, Joshua's promoter, mentioned, "He wants to, he really wants to fight. We’ve been on calls with him all week. There’s a lot happening with the IBF situation. We’ll have to see. I think he’s going to fight in December or January."

Hearn also stated that the realistic timeframe for the Wilder fight now seems to be March or April at the latest. Joshua's eagerness to fight remains high, and he has expressed a desire to return to training camp, with the hope of securing a fight in December, possibly extending into January.

Joshua's recent fighting activity has been limited, with only four fights in the last three years. He experienced back-to-back world title losses to Usyk before securing victories over Jermaine Franklin and Helenius. Joshua emphasized his readiness to face any opponent, regardless of the timing, stating, "Any time's a good time to fight. It's only a fight. It doesn't matter who it is."

Deontay Wilder has been even less active, having fought just twice in the last two years, including a first-round stoppage of Helenius. Prior to that, he faced consecutive losses against Fury. Fury, who retains his WBC title despite not defending it since December of the previous year, is set to take on former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia on October 28.