By Scott Gilfoid: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs) says he’s fighting on another level as IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) right now in his career, and he believes he has the more experience of the two. Wilder, 31, is a little older, faster, taller and more powerful than the 27-year-old Joshua.
The speed and power advantage that Wilder has going for him would be a potential problem for the 6’6” Joshua if that fight were to happen. We’re not hearing much from Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn about them wanting to take on the 6’7” Wilder for some reason. You’ve got Hearn and Joshua excited about fighting the ring rusty and arguably over the hill 31-year-old Wladimir Klitschko, but not much is ever said about them wanting to take on Deontay. Is it because they don’t feel they’re ready for that fight? I’m just saying.
“I definitely feel like I’m on a whole another level than Joshua,” said Wilder to Fighthype.com. “I’ve been in this game for a while now. I’m very experienced. I think I’ve seen every style to see, you know, the major styles that I need to see.”
The experience factor is an important thing that Wilder has going for him over Joshua. Wilder has been in with some good fighters like Bermane Stiverne, Gerald Washington, Artur Szpilka and Johann Duhaupas as a pro. Wilder won a bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics. Joshua won a gold medal in the 2012 Olympics in London. You can argue that the difference is Joshua’s gold medal victory was controversial, as a lot of boxing fans thought Joshua was beaten 2 times in the 2012 Olympics in his fights against Roberto Cammarelle and Erislandy Savon. I personally had Joshua losing all 4 fights in that Olympics. I thought he lost them all. He gave a good effort, but his opponents were always a little better than him in my opinion. They landed the better shots, and were busier than him. Joshua looked tired much of the time from the fast pace of the fights. He had a lot of muscle on him. I figured that might have slowed him down somewhat. As a pro, Joshua has packed on even more muscle and is now weighing close to 250. In the Olympics, Joshua weighed around 220. He wasn’t fast even then, but he’s clearly slower for having put on a lot of muscle from his resistance exercises he’s been doing. You have to wonder how much better Joshua would be if he had a trainer like Nacho Beristain as his coach. Beristain focuses on increasing the speed of his fighters rather than bulking them up. I think Joshua would be a lot better. I think he would do well to ditch his trainer and get with Beristain to see if he could help develop his career.
Joshua is fighting this month against 41-year-old Wladimir Klitschko on April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. The fight will be shown on Sky Box Office PPV in the UK. It’s still unclear what television network will show the fight in the States. I can’t see that fight winding up on PPV in the U.S, though. That would be a big ask to put Joshua-Klitschko on PPV in the U.S right now, given that Joshua isn’t well-known among the casual boxing fans. Wladimir never really won over a lot of fans in the U.S with his fighting style, which was usually very defensive with clinching and jabbing.
Wilder has made it no secret that he’d like to fight Joshua in the future. Joshua needs to be built up in the U.S for the fight to make sense. Having his fight against Klitschko televised in the U.S is a good start, but I think Joshua is going to need to have his fights shown in the U.S for a fight against Wilder to do really well in the States. Yeah, the fight will obviously do extremely well in the UK, because the British boxing fans watch Joshua’s fights in big numbers no matter who he faces. I mean, look at the reaction to Joshua fighting Wladimir Klitschko. The UK fans are totally eager to see that fight, even though Wladimir hasn’t fought in 2 years and is coming off of a loss to Tyson Fury. You would think that Wladimir’s last performance against Fury would be a detriment to the Joshua fight attracting interest in the UK, but it seems like they don’t care. They’re treating this fight like Wladimir is still at the top of his game rather than a fighter that appears to be well over-the-hill at this point in his career.
“I think I’ve seen it, I’ve learned it, and that’s what allows me to adjust in the ring and do my thing,” said Wilder.
I agree with Wilder about him being able to make adjustments inside the ring. Wilder is coming off of an impressive 5th round knockout win over the 6’7” Gerald Washington in his last fight on February 25 in Birmingham, Alabama. Wilder initially had problems with the height, reach and jab of Washington. However, after making adjustments in the 5th round, Wilder quickly stopped Washington after dropping him with a crushing right hand to the head. Wilder’s right hand power was a game changers. That punch is always there for Wilder. He can be doing nothing in a fight, and then all of a sudden, bang, he ends it with the right hand.
Joshua might have problems with Wilder’s speed and right hand power. If Joshua lands anything on Wilder, it’s going to cause him to react by throwing his right hand power shots with total conviction. Given that Wilder is faster and more powerful that Joshua, we could see a shocking 1-punch knockout in a fight like that. It’s very possible that if Wilder lands his right hand on the chin of Joshua, it could topple him over. That’s the thing about Wilder. He’s got a game changer with his right hand. Joshua has already been staggered by a lesser puncher than Wilder in Dillian Whyte, who hurt him with a left hook in their fight in 2015. If Whyte hadn’t hurt his left shoulder in that fight, it’s hard to know how that fight would have ended up. All we do know is before Whyte hurt his shoulder, he staggered Joshua and had him looking like he was ready to go.
Wilder has held the World Boxing Council heavyweight title since his win over Bermane Stiverne in 2015. Wilder has defended his WBC title 5 times and looked good. Wilder wants to fight WBO champion Joseph Parker and the winner of Joshua-Klitschko. Whether Wilder gets either of those fights is unclear. My guess he probably won’t. The fights will likely need to wait until 2018.
Dereck Chisora wants rematch with Dillian Whyte
Dereck Chisora (26-7, 18 KOs) says he will be fighting a rematch with Dillian Whyte (20-1, 15 KOs) in the near future if the money is right, and if he wins his next fight. Chisora will be facing Robert Helenius (24-1, 15 KOs) next month on May 27 in a rematch at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland. That’s another fighter that Chisora is looking to avenge a loss to. Chisora was beaten by Helenius in 2011 and Whyte last February. In both cases, Chisora felt that he won the fights. The judges felt differently.
“The fight will happen,” Chisora said to skysports.com. “If he wins his next fight and then the terms are right for me and him, we’ll do the fight.”
Whyte, 28, says he’s going to be taking on a big name in his next fight on June 3 at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn will have him headlining his own career. Whyte is saying that he’ll be fighting a big name. If that turns out to be true, he might lose again. Heck, Whyte almost lost to Chisora last February.
“Heard from Eddie Hearn I won’t be fighting on Brook card I will be headlining London O2 show June 3rd against a big name @SkySportsBoxing,” said Whyte on his Twitter.
I’m hearing names like Dominic Breazeale and Bryant Jennings are potential options for Whyte. I don’t see either of those guys as being a big name, but maybe they are for Whyte. Jennings has pretty much zero since losing to Wladimir Klitschko and Luis Ortiz.
“Everybody always say it has to be a world title eliminator, it has to be this or that,” Chisora said. “To be honest with you, if it’s a great fight, it doesn’t have to be for any title as along as everybody is getting paid.”
Chisora shouldn’t look past his fight against Robert Helenius next month, because he could lose that fight again. Helenius beat Chisora with a shoulder injury in their fight in 2011. If the 6’6” Helenius is healthy for their rematch, it’s going to be really difficult for Chisora to do much against him due to his size, reach and big punching power. Chisora struggles against taller fighters, and he always has.