Deontay Wilder vs. Anthony Joshua is the biggest fight in boxing, period ... according to The Bronze Bomber, who says the two heavyweight stars are finally ready to deliver the fight fans have wanted for nearly a decade!
TMZ Sports talked to 38-year-old WIlder about the tentatively scheduled March 9 bout set to go down in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia ... assuming Deontay and AJ can successfully navigate their fights this weekend against Joseph Parker and Otto Wallin, respectively.
"I'm looking forward to all this," Wilder told us. "It's a beautiful time for me."
Deontay then put the magnitude of the fight into perspective.
"Me and the Joshua talk has been something, like you said for a decade," adding ... "and that is the biggest fight in the world."
Despite the talk about AJ, Wilder (43-2, 42 KOs) knows he has to first handle Parker (33-3, 23 KOs) ... who's no average Joe. In fact, Joseph told us earlier this week that he plans on putting Deontay to sleep on Saturday.
"The only thing with words, you have to believe what you say," Wilder said in response to Parker's statement. "Now, Joseph can say what he wants but do he believe what he says?!"
"We know that when Deontay says things, he speaks it, he believes it, he receives it."
Deontay said it was a beautiful time for him ... and he's not lying. He has a ton of big things going on, including talk of a major crossover MMA/boxing event with Francis Ngannou ... something Deontay seems interested in.
"This is something I'm very serious about getting into and I wanna do," Wilder said.
But, before he steps into the world that the likes of Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic have dominated, Deontay has a "job to do" against Parker ... and AJ right after! 👊