Wilder: Joshua is running. I'm ready!

Heavyweight world titleholder Deontay Wilder will make the seventh defense of his WBC belt on March 3rd when takes on Luis Ortiz at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, but the 2008 U.S. Olympic bronze medalist is already thinking about the possibility of fighting four-strap titlist Anthony Joshua.

Wilder (39-0, 38 KO's), 32, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was asked during a training session how far he thinks Joshua will last in a fight against him.

"Joshua's got to accept it (the fight) first," Wilder said. "He's running. It's going to be up to the fans to smoke him out of there because I'm ready.

"We need each other. If we want to unify the division, we need each other. I'm not going nowhere. I'm here!"

Wilder also told ESPN that Joshua will never become a global icon without facing him.

"He may have his country behind him, and that's it," Wilder told ESPN. "Does he want to be remembered as a country-wide champion? Because he's not worldwide [champion]. Over here in America, they don't even know his name. They just know him as a big guy from England. That's fact.

Joshua (20-0, 20 KO's), 28, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist from the United Kingdom, has never fought outside his native country. However, his 10th-round TKO of replacement opponent Carlos Takam last October was in front of nearly 80,000 fans. Additionally, his KO of future Hall of Famer Wladimir Klitschko last April, a bout that won 2017 FightNights.com's Fight of the Year honors, sold 90,000 tickets.

Wilder is coming off a first-round knockout of Bermane Stiverne in a November rematch before just 10,924 at the same arena where he will face Ortiz.

If we are talking about attendance, Joshua is clearly the "A-side."