Deontay Wilder has questioned how long Anthony Joshua's promoters can keep the world's two premier heavyweight boxers from meeting in the ring and stated that fans across the Atlantic do not even know his name.

WBA (Super), IBF and IBO champion Joshua and WBC title-holder Wilder remain on course for a mammoth unification fight in the United States later this year, providing both men are able to keep their respective undefeated professional records intact over the coming weeks.

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Alabama native Wilder, who successfully defended the belt he won from Bermane Stiverne three years ago for the sixth time with a first-round knockout of the Haitian-Canadian veteran in November, steps back into the ring on 3 March as he faces Cuban Luis "King Kong" Ortiz at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

The pair were initially supposed to fight last year, only for Ortiz to fail a drugs test and allow WBC number one contender Stiverne a chance to regain his lost title.

Joshua, meanwhile, follows up October's gruelling 10th-round stoppage of the durable Carlos Takam - a late replacement for Kubrat Pulev - by returning to Cardiff's Principality Stadium on 31 March for an eagerly-anticipated clash with WBO champion Joseph Parker.

It is the second unification bout of the 2012 Olympic gold medalist's career following his epic dethroning of the long-reigning Wladimir Klitschko in the spring.

Deontay Wilder
Deontay Wilder will provide the seventh defence of his WBC heavyweight title against Luis Ortiz in March Abbie Parr/Getty Images

Wilder has previously suggested on numerous occasions that promoter Eddie Hearn does not want Joshua to face him and recently turned down the opportunity to travel to the United Kingdom to go up against Dillian Whyte.

Talking to ESPN this week, the Bronze Bomber claimed that Joshua will never become a globally-recognised name if the two rivals don't do battle and reiterated his belief that his promoters simply do not want the fight to come to pass.

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

"I need him and he needs me at the end of the day, unless he doesn't want to unify. Unless he wants to stay over his side of the pond and let people gravitate to him and be a fake sign of what he [says he] is. But he will never be a global icon. You will never be a worldwide figure without me. All roads lead to Deontay Wilder."

He added: "Everybody wants to see the fight. The only people that don't are his promoters. They already know how big of a risk this really is. They should be worried but how long do they really think the public, the fans of boxing are going to allow them to stay away from me? This is the biggest fight in our era."