Joshua looms as Wilder faces underdog Stiverne

NEW YORK: Deontay Wilder will have one eye on a future superfight with Anthony Joshua today when he defends his World Boxing Council heavyweight title against Canadian challenger Bermane Stiverne in New York.

Wilder (38-0, with 37 KOs) faces Stiverne for the second time, two years after winning the title from the 39-year-old in a one-sided unanimous victory in Las Vegas in January 2015.

The Canadian earned another crack at Wilder in September after the scheduled challenger, Luis Ortiz, failed a drugs test.

If their first meeting is anything to go by, Wilder is expected to have little difficulty in putting away Stiverne for a second time.

Judges scored the first fight 120-108, 119-108 and 118-109 in Wilder’s favour.

Stiverne has blamed health issues for his failure to muster much resistance to Wilder’s onslaught in their first meeting.

“I had health concerns but now I’ve turned the chapter on that and I’m focused on Saturday night.

“This is going to be a completely different fight this time around,” Stiverne said.

Wilder, 32, laughed off Stiverne’s comments — and warned he will seek a knockout against the only opponent who has taken him the distance.

An explosive Wilder performance at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn would intensify the drumbeat for the heavyweight match-up that the boxing world craves — a collision against British star Joshua, the reigning IBF and WBA heavyweight champion.

Joshua said after his title defence over Carlos Takam in Cardiff last weekend that a fight with Wilder “has to happen.”

The prospects for that fight however have been complicated by the WBC’s decision to declare the winner of Saturday’s undercard bout between Dominic Breazeale and Eric Molina as the mandatory challenger for Wilder.