Wilder was hoping to land a 50-50 share for a summer unification with Joshua, although the Briton’s promoter Eddie Hearn has ruled out splitting a purse down the middle.
As ‘The Bronze Bomber’ is unwilling to budge on his demands, a fight against Joshua could be put on the backburner for the immediate future.
With a return likely in the spring, Wilder is eyeing up two of his old foes, both of whom were forced out of world title fights with the American due to failed drugs tests.
“We have a lot of fighters. We have a lot of guys coming back. You got Luis Ortiz and Alexander Povetkin. I would love to get the opportunity back with some of them guys, the fights that people really want to see and due to their lack of responsibility, as far as being wise for the drugs they choose to put in their bodies that the fight didn’t happen,” Wilder told ESPN.
“Hey, they back, why not? I would love to get back in the ring and mix it up with those guys. I can’t wait for 2018. The heavyweight division is too exciting. We want go get in the ring and prove ourselves, as men, as warriors, as the best and I am one of the ones saying I am the best and I can’t wait to prove to the world I am who I say I am.
“It is a jungle and in the jungle we all know only the strong survive in the jungle. If you are not strong, you better start to hide and you better find a great hiding spot because sometimes where you at, you get found and you that’s it.”
Both Ortiz and Povetkin were somewhat exonerated by the WBC for their initial adverse findings but had to adhere to stricter doping guidelines in order to regain their rankings.
As the pair had no problem with the World Boxing Council’s terms, Wilder would seemingly be open to taking the risk of working out new dates with two of his most controversial rivals.
