Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn, considers him nothing more than an appetizer before a potential long-awaited matchup with Tyson Fury.

“We need a warm-up fight before we fight Fury,” Hearn told reporters this week. “AJ’s coming off the accident, he’s rehabilitating his body, etc. We’ll take Deontay Wilder as that warm-up fight and then we’ll fight Fury in December.”

The two have been linked to each other for years and the former WBC heavyweight champion is back on a winning streak.

Last weekend at the O2 Arena, Wilder (45-4-1, 43 KOs) eked out a close split decision over long-faded British contender Derek Chisora. Prior to that, he'd lost four of his last five appearances and been stopped in three.

As for Joshua (29-4, 26 KOs), it’s been a while since his sixth-round stoppage win over YouTuber-turned-fringe cruiserweight contender Jake Paul five months ago in Miami.

The original plan for the former unified heavyweight champion was an all-British showdown against Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) this year. However, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist was involved in a horrific car wreck on December 29 near Lagos, Nigeria, that resulted in the death of his close friends and team members, Sina Ghami and Latif “Latz” Ayodele, along with his own injury.

He took time off to grieve and recover. He’s since been training with former rival Oleksandr Usyk, The Ring and unified heavyweight king.

Talks have been revisited to fight Fury, who ends a 16-month retirement against Arslanbek Makhmudov this weekend topping the bill at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Netflix.

Hearn expects Fury to prevail on his return but expects a quick night at the office, should Joshua-Wilder finally be made.

“I respect Wilder and think he looked much better in that fight than he has previously,” Hearn said. “But Joshua will walk through Wilder within three rounds.”