Few sporting athletes on on earth garner the attention that Anthony Joshua attracts and that has ramped up another notch this week as the British superstar gets set to announce his next fight.
The unified world heavyweight champion picked up another belt for his collection when outpointing the previously unbeaten Joshua Parker in March, and it is clear a quest to pick up the one remaining strap is high on the agenda. WBC title holder Deontay Wilder remains the one man standing in the way of the Watford fighter and with Joshua touching down in America this week, speculation is rife that the bout could be announced within a matter of days.
Wilder has spent much of the last few weeks attacking Joshua via social media and there is a growing feeling that the fight could be signed for later in 2018. A Wilder Joshua fight has the potential to be one of the biggest fights in the sports history with the American already offering the 2012 Olympic Champion a guaranteed $50m dollars if he agrees to the fight.
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn has made it clear he wants to know where that money is coming from with the venue for a potential fight between the two biggest names in the heavyweight division also proving a sticking point.
Las Vegas has been mooted as the obvious destination for the fight although Joshua appears to have suggested this week that he owes it to the UK fans to keep his fights on home soil. Any fight for all four belts would attract a monster crowd in the UK given the profile of the two fighters, with the Principality Stadium in Cardiff able to hold around 70,000 people at any time of the year due to the retractable roof.
Wembley, Twickenham and the London Stadium have also been suggested as potential venues for a monster September fight.
Something not in doubt is that Joshua has landed in LA this week and the rumour mill has gone into overdrive...
Joshua appears to be in the US for work but he had enough down time on Tuesday evening to take in the Golden State v Houston play-off game as he looks to raise his profile across the pond.
Wilder looks to be the logical next opponent but there is the little matter of a potentially awkward mandatory defence against Alexander Povetkin to overcome. The Russian is first in line for the WBA belt currently in the possession of Joshua and that looks to be the obvious fight should negotiations with Wilder break down.
Povetkin was last seen brutally knocking out David Price on the under-card of the Joshua Parker fight in Cardiff and he would make for a tricky and less attractive fight during the second half of 2018.
The controversial Russian has fallen foul of the doping laws in the past which would make the fight a tough sell for the British public but it may be an unavoidable clash if AJ wants to keep hold of all of his WBA crown. No fighter has ever held all four titles at the same time and only a fight between Wilder and Joshua would give both men their chance at history.
Wilder was last seen surviving the toughest test of his career against Luis Ortiz thanks to 10th round TKO which took the American's record to a blemish free 40-0. The 32-year-old has only really stepped up into the elite level in the last 18 months though, and he will surely be eager to cash in on one of the biggest fights of all time as soon as he can.
Blessed with an unorthodox and sometime crude style, the Alabama native is clearly a box office draw thanks to a dynamite right hand and the ability to stop any fighter, which is why a fight with Joshua is such an attractive opposition for fight fans.
It is clearly getting to the stage where both men will be looking to announce their next fight and the whole of the boxing world is hoping that Joshua is not just in the States to watch basketball...
