Eddie Hearn has made contact with Deontay Wilder’s manager Shelly Finkel about a potential fight with the fit-again Anthony Joshua.

The London heavyweight, who recently underwent elbow surgery, is expected to return to the ring this autumn after taking a year out and this week insisted he is capable of "taking the division by storm."

Across the pond, another former world heavyweight champion ended his own boxing exile by stopping Tyrrell Herndon in the seventh round of their fight in Wichita, Kansas. It was Wilder’s first outing for 12 months and, while not vintage Bronze Bomber, the victory was enough for him to blow off some cobwebs.

And no sooner are Joshua and Wilder back in the picture than discussions begun about finally putting them together in a fight.

There was a time when they were undefeated heavyweight world champions and it remains one of the biggest travesties of their generation that nobody managed to arrange a unification between them.

They are now deep into their 30s and approaching the end of their careers, but AJ's long-term promoter Hearn still believes there is an appetite for Joshua-Wilder.

“I think it’s always going to be a big fight because it’s exciting, enticing and dangerous,” Hearn told The Ring.

Joshua, 35, a two-time heavyweight champion, is 28-4 (25 KOs) and ranked No.5 by The Ring while Wilder, 39, the former WBC king, is 44-4-1 (43 KOs) and is no longer in the top 10.

Hearn had suggested that another of his heavyweights, Dave Allen, could be an option for Wilder, too, but also brought up the possibility of him fighting Joshua during a conversation with Finkel.

He said: “I spoke to Shelly Finkel because we were talking about a potential fight with Dave Allen. But we will see what’s next.

“Wilder seems to have a little plan of wanting to stay quite active and I think that’s a good thing for him and maybe that’s a fight that can materialise.”