Photo: Naoki Fukuda

Heavyweight titleholder Charles Martin is set to face 2012 Olympic gold medalist Anthony Joshua April 9 in London, England in an intriguing crossroads bout.

But the situation THE RING-rated No. 10 Martin (23-0-1, 21 knockouts) was initially pining for was an all-American heavyweight unification match with Deontay Wilder, according to his promoter.

“Wilder would have been the No. 1 option if we could have gotten him,” Leon Margules, who promotes Martin, told RingTV.com on Monday. “That would have been great- two American heavyweights. [But] everybody has their obligations. We didn’t want to fight any meaningless, keep-busy opponent.”

Martin’s options were limited, though after he won the vacant IBF title against Vyacheslav Glazkov in January. Wilder, who holds the WBC title, is in negotiations to face Alexander Povetkin in May. And of course Wladimir Klitschko and Tyson Fury are working on a rematch for perhaps this summer. THE RING-rated No. 9 Joshua (15-0, 15 KOs) was the best remaining option for Martin, Margules said.

In discussing the heavyweight division, Margules listed Wilder, Martin and Joshua as the top heavyweights at the moment.

“I think the heavyweight division is every exciting right now,” Margules said. “I think that Wilder is better than people think. I think he’s going to beat Povetkin. And I think the Americans are back. I wasn’t impressed with Klitschko or Fury. Were you? Joshua, Wilder and Martin look like the better fighters of those five at this point. I’m not going to criticize Klitschko for his whole career but he’s 40 years old and who knows what he’s got left? And Fury almost got knocked out by Steve Cunningham (in 2013 in a fight Fury won by KO).”

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