Joshua says Deontay Wilder fight must happen to help boxing

By Boxing News - 10/31/2017 - Comments

Image: Joshua says Deontay Wilder fight must happen to help boxing

By Juan Flores: IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua says boxing needs for him to face WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder so that the two of them could battle to discover which of them is supreme. Joshua says he wants the Wilder fight, but for it to happen, he’s going to need to be assertive with his promoter.

There’s one thing that’s stopping the Joshua vs. Wilder fight from happening, and that’s AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn. He feels that Wilder should take a fight against Dillian Whyte to prove himself, and to help increase the buy rate for the Joshua-Wilder fight. Hearn may have other reasons why he wants Wilder to fight Whyte.

It’s quite possible that Hearn is hoping that Whyte beats Wilder, so he can remove a big threat. What makes one think that Hearn isn’t interested in letting the Joshua-Wilder fight happen is his unwillingness to package the Wilder vs. Whyte fight with Joshua. Hearn doesn’t want any part of tying Joshua to the Wilder-Whyte fight. He just wants Wilder to have faith that he’ll give him the Joshua fight.

“I need it. Boxing needs it, 100 per cent I do. It has to happen,” said Joshua to the dailystar.co.uk. “Wilder has done almost 40 fights, he has approached these fights so many times he is just desperate for a big fight. He needs a big name. He is going, ‘I’m going nuts, I need a thrill, I need a buzz,” said Joshua.

Joshua has had only 1 big fight during his career, and that’s the Wladimir Klitschko fight contest earlier this year on April 29. Joshua doesn’t have a lot of room to talk. It’s not as if he’s had a slew of fights. Yeah, Joshua has made a lot of money in his contests against low level opposition, but he’s not had any fights where his opponent had a good chance of beating him other than the Klitschko fight. Even in that bout, it was tilted in Joshua’s favor, given that Wladimir was 41-years-old and coming off of a loss to Tyson Fury and a 2-year layoff. The only guys with a chance of beating Joshua are the fighters that Hearn hasn’t matched him up against. I’m talking Deontay Wilder, David Haye, Jarrell Miller, Alexander Povetkin, and Luis “King Kong” Ortiz.

Joshua beat Carlos Takam by a 10th round knockout last Saturday night in defending against his IBF mandatory at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.

Wilder will take the Whyte fight gladly, but he wants a good payday, and he wants Hearn to guarantee him the Joshua fight. If Hearn can’t do that for whatever reason, then he’s not going to get Wilder to sign on the dotted line. Wilder isn’t going to risk signing for the Whyte fight if he doesn’t know for sure that he’ll be able to get Joshua in his next fight after that.

“Hearn can say what he wants. Let me help you. You want Whyte and I want Joshua. Put them in a package and let me fight,” said Wilder. “I will knock out Whyte easy. I could do it with one hand tied behind my back,” said Wilder.

Wilder is helpless to get the Joshua fight unless Hearn drops his requirements that he fight Whyte without a guarantee of getting the AJ fight. Wilder needs Hearn to be more open to letting him take the Joshua fight without strings attached.