By Norm Frauenheim-

Boxing is still a heavyweight fight short of completing a comeback that had buoyed a forever-battered business always hoping for a rebound.

But Anthony Joshua-Deontay Wilder proved that not a whole lot has really changed.

Joshua-Wilder remained buried in never, never land amid reports this week that negotiations had failed. For a whole lot of reasons hard to explain and harder to understand, Joshua and Wilder have decided to go their separate ways until at least next April. That’s pretty much the same way they’ve been going for at least the last year.

Welcome to the HoHum division.

It looked as if it might be changing with that lightning bolt of drama on April 29, 2017 when Joshua got off the deck for an 11th-round TKO over Wladimir Klitschko in front of a World Cup-like crowd of 90,000 at London’s Wembley Stadium.

There was promise in watching a historical standard re-surface, looking like the flagship division it once was. There was talk of Joshua fighting in the U.S. in the biggest British invasion since the Beatles.

Instead, there’s just the same old, same old. Plans are for Joshua to fight Russian Alexander Povetkin in a mandatory title defense in September. There’s also talk of Wilder-versus-Dominic Breazeale in the fall.

Both are yawners. Yet, both are dangerous. That’s the trouble with mediocrity. A promising date can always be completely undone by the forgettable. For the casual fans, however, there are only two heavyweights. There’s Joshua. And there’s Wilder.

For the fans who want them –and only them – to fight, Povetkin might as well be a brand of Vodka. He’s not, of course. Povetkin a potential spoiler. In the UK, the guess here is that Joshua prevails.

Like Joshua, however, Povetkin has an Olympic gold medal. He won gold in Athens at a 2004 Games that included Gennady Golovkin’s silver medal at middleweight. Translation: Povetkin knows his way around the ring.

Povetin also has a history of PED use. A positive test led to the cancellation of a May, 2016 bout with Wilder in Moscow. Wilder was willing and able to face Povetkin in Russia. But it’s reasonable to say that the positive test saved the American from a defeat.

Wilder is lots of fun. Wilder, often dismissed one-dimensional, also has the biggest right hand in boxing. The right, an equalizer, has repeatedly saved him from losing on the cards.

It’s a weapon only fool would not fear. Put it this way: Joshua, no fool, got knocked down by a Klitschko right in the fifth. He got up. If Wilder had landed that right, Joshua might have stayed down, flat and finished on Wembley canvas.

Against Povetkin in Moscow, however, Wilder might have had trouble throwing a long punch powered by the leverage he gets from a lanky body.

Unlike Wilder, Povetkin isn’t fun to watch. The Russian’s resume includes a scorecard loss to Klitschko in 2012, also in Moscow. Povetkin tried to smother Klitschko with clinches.

It was hard to watch then. It’ll be hard to watch again. But the tactic will return against Joshua in bout that could smother a chance to watch the only heavyweight fight anybody wants to see.

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, Heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder accepted terms sent by the team of fellow champion Anthony Joshua for a possible mega-showdown this fall.

“We have agreed to the terms that Eddie has put out to us for a fight in the U.K. Deontay has accepted his terms to fight in the U.K.,” said Wilder adviser Shelly Finkel said. “Deontay sent an email to Joshua [Sunday] night, and I sent one [Monday] to Barry Hearn and Eddie telling them that we officially accept the offer to fight under the terms they gave us and to send us the contract.”

“Now we will see if they live up to it or if they try to go through with the fight with [mandatory challenger Alexander] Povetkin first. Hopefully, we’ll get an answer in the next couple days,” Finkel said. “If they change their mind, the $50 million [against 50 percent of the event] we offered them [to come to the United States] is still on the table. That is still for them if they want it.”

“There’s no [percentage] split, but they’ve offered us a good purse. Not as good as we feel it should be, but we want the fight, and we’re willing to take what they offered,” Finkel said. “We wanted a percentage, but we didn’t think we could get it done in a quick time frame, so we said let’s take what they’ve offered us. Deontay wants this fight.”

Wilder addressed Joshua’s fans on social media on Monday, writing, “The $50M offer for him to fight me next in the U.S. is still available. Today I even agreed to their offer to fight Joshua next in the UK. If he prefers the fight in the UK, the ball is in their court. It’s up to them to choose.”

“The U.S. TV is Eddie’s call,” Finkel said. “We have a preference for Showtime because we’ve been with them.”

According to Dan Rafael, the mega-showdown between heavyweight champions Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua could happen, according to Dan Rafael of espn.com.

Shelly Finkel, one of Wilder’s co-managers, told ESPN on Monday night that he is “optimistic” that a deal can be struck for the world’s top big men to fight this fall and that the location of the fight is not an issue on their side.

Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing has said that Joshua and trainer/manager Rob McCracken want the fight in the United Kingdom. Finkel said it is not an issue.

“I met with Eddie’s father, Barry [Hearn, head of Matchroom], this past Friday in New York and it was a good meeting,” Finkel said. “I’m hopeful that they will get back to me this week and that something can be done to make the fight in the fall. I’m optimistic.

“If [fighting in the United Kingdom] is a condition for us to get the fight, that will not be an impediment on our side. There are still some roads to cross but hopefully it will happen and we’ll see the fight this year. If we’re going to make the fight, the place where it will take place isn’t going to be the problem. We have no problem going to the U.K. It never was a problem. Deontay has never had a problem with that.”

Finkel said they continue to work with Joshua’s side on the split of the revenue.

“We’ve had conversations and I think the gap is close,” he said. “We feel it’s a lot closer.”

Barry Hearn said whatever happens needs to be done soon.

“They’ve got to make a decision realistically in the next few days,” he said. “I think both of them want to fight each other, but there’s obviously hurdles to come over. Is Wembley [Stadium] available? What’s the American pay-per-view situation for American broadcasters on a show in the U.K.? Is it the right time to fight Deontay Wilder? Fight’s only going to get bigger. Fight fans will tell you, ‘We must see it now!’ Of course, they’re not involved in the financials.

“The last word on this is Anthony Joshua’s. Our job is to say, ‘Here is the menu, you pick the main course,’ because Anthony Joshua calls the shots. He’s the financial king in heavyweight boxing and in the world of boxing. There’s no one running close. He makes the call.”

Joshua could also fight Povetkin in a mandatory bout, though it is a dangerous fight and likely worth significantly less than a fight with Wilder. Eddie Hearn and Vadim Kornilov, one of Povetkin’s representatives, are working on a deal though the Povetkin camp is aware that it is the backup plan to Wilder.

“We are finalizing negotiations for Joshua versus Povetkin for September of this year. We are hoping to come to a deal by the end of the month,” Kornilov told ESPN. “Joshua versus Povetkin is the most competitive fight in the heavyweight division today. Wilder versus Joshua has a lot more hype, but in my opinion Povetkin is a much tougher opponent for Joshua and it’s a 50-50 fight.”

“[Joshua] wants to box in the U.K. next. We’ve extended that offer to Wilder. Everything is good in terms of the spirit between the two camps. We’re talking. Povetkin is ready to go, so we have to make our move shortly. I reckon in the next week or two we’ll be looking to make a decision. We need to decide whether it’s Wilder or Povetkin next because the clock is ticking and Joshua is ready to get back in camp and defend his title. An announcement on the next Joshua fight is coming within the next week or two.”

Finkel said he is aware that Povetkin (34-1, 24 KOs), 38, of Russia, is a fallback option for Joshua, but that the Wilder side is not looking at other opponents yet.

“We’re not even thinking about it,” he said. “we’re hopeful to make this fight. This is the fight we’re focusing on only. Our goal is to make the fight with Joshua and that’s all we feel we should focus on.”