On two occasions recently, Deontay Wilder was one fight away from securing a long-awaited bout with Anthony Joshua.

The first chance was against Joseph Parker, but the hard-hitting American looked uncharacteristically gun-shy and lost wide on the cards. Joshua went on to fight and beat Francis Ngannou instead.

Wilder’s next fight against Zhilei Zhang could have also set up a clash against the Brit, but he was knocked out in the fifth round and left many calling for him to retire at 38-years-old. 

Wilder had a heavyweight rivalry with Joshua of the most frustrating kind, their campaigns running parallel for some time but never quite being able to break down whatever barriers – promotional, broadcast, ego – to make a fight happen. At one stage it would have been for the undisputed championship, but still no progress. Now it looks gone for good.

In an interview with Box Nation, ‘AJ’ was asked if he thinks Wilder should hang up the gloves. He said no.

“Nah, he’s still dangerous. There’s still a lot he can do. There’s still a lot he can do, but if he gets too caught up in the life outside boxing he’ll return. Because you know what it is, if you listen to everyone’s opinion you’ll start swaying your own intuition … In short, I don’t think he should, but I hope he’s not listening to everyone’s opinion, because everyone thinks he should.”

Wilder hasn’t made an official announcement as to his future in the sport. His coach, former opponent and friend Malik Scott says he will support him in whatever he chooses to do.