By Scott Gilfoid: Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder is ready to fight #3 WBC Dillian Whyte if the contract for the fight states that he’ll get the unification fight against IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua directly after that.
Wilder says he’s ready to smash Whyte once he’s given a contract that has Joshua’s name on it.
What’s strange is that Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn hasn’t shown any interest in wanting to tie the Wilder-Whyte fight with Wilder getting a guaranteed fight against Joshua in writing as part of a contract.
Hearn says Wilder doesn’t have to worry about him getting the Joshua fight if he fights Whyte and beats him. Hearn doesn’t say why he isn’t willing to make a contract that guarantees Wilder the Joshua fight if he faces Whyte. Hearn not giving Wilder a contract that guarantees that he gets the Joshua fight if he beats Whyte is suspicious, because there’s no reason on earth why Hearn shouldn’t do what’s being asked of him by the Bronze Bomber.
Wilder, 31, doesn’t want to fight Whyte for nothing in just doing his promoter Eddie Hearn a favor. He wants to make that if he agrees to fight Whyte (21-1, 16 KOs) that it will directly lead to the fight that he wants against the 27-year-old Joshua.
“Put Anthony Joshua on that contract and I will come to England. Dillian Whyte is an easy fight; I can fight that fight in my sleep, one hand behind my back,” said Wilder to Sky Sports News.“If they want to see that fight, I have no problems fighting that fight, as long as that contract says I have Anthony Joshua next.”
Since it doesn’t look like Hearn intends on giving Wilder a guaranteed contract for him to get the Joshua fight if he does him the favor or fighting Whyte, then it’s going to require faith and trust on the Bronze Bombers part. Since Hearn isn’t going to put in writing that he gets a guaranteed Joshua fight, Wilder will have to believe him that he’ll do what he says he was going to do and make the fight.
The bad thing about Wilder agreeing to fight Whyte without the contract that he’s looking, it will leave him feeling unsure whether Hearn will keep his word. If Wilder knew 100% that he would get the fight with Joshua after he beats Whyte.
”He knows he can’t beat me, [promoter] Eddie Hearn knows he can’t beat me,” said Wilder about Whyte,
Hearn has said repeatedly lately that he believes that Whyte can and will beat Wilder. I don’t think Hearn is just saying that. He really seems to believe that Whyte, 29, will do the job on Wilder when they get around to fighting each other in 2018. Of course, if Hearn does truly believe that Wilder is going to lose to Whyte, it makes no sense then for him to agree to the $4 million offered to him by Hearn instead of holding out for the much bigger payday against Joshua. In effect, Hearn’s offer of $4 million to Wilder is him buying him out on the cheap, if he really believes Whyte will beat him. Why would Wilder take $4 million instead of the $10-15 million he can get fighting Joshua? There’s a significant difference in the money Wilder can make against Joshua compared to the lesser money he would get fighting Whyte. It doesn’t make sense for Wilder to take the fight with Whyte for smaller money if he’ll be risking a much bigger payday against Joshua.
Hearn not giving Wilder a guaranteed fight with Joshua if he faces ad beats Whyte kind of says all needs to be said. Wilder might not get the Joshua fight if he beats Whyte. The fact that Hearn is not interested in giving Wilder a guarantee that he’ll get the Joshua fight if he faces and beats Whyte can be construed as a signal that he’s not quite sure whether he wants that fight to happen yet. Why else would Hearn not put in the Wilder-Whyte contract that Wilder can get the Joshua fight if he wins?
It seems like a no-brainer for Hearn to give Wilder a guarantee that he can get the fight with Joshua, unless that’s not what his true wishes are. If hearn is only interested in making the Wilder-Whyte fight in hopes that Whyte will beat Wilder, then it’s understandable why he doesn’t want to gives him a guarantee to get Joshua fight if he wins.
It would be sad if Wilder takes the Whyte fight, beats him, and then gets stuck having to fight one of Hearn’s other fighters afterwards instead of Joshua. What’s to stop Hearn from pulling the old bait and switch by giving Wilder Dave Allen instead of Joshua if/when he defeats Whyte? In theory, Hearn could stick another heavyweight between Wilder and Joshua, and tell the Bronze Bomber, ‘Don’t worry, if you beat this guy, you’ll get a fight against Joshua, no problem.’ If it plays out like that, the goal posts would constantly be moved back by Hearn to keep Wilder from scoring the Joshua fight.
Wilder, 31, wants to get the fight with Joshua over with already so that he can prove to the boxing world that he’s the best fighter in the division. Hearn shouldn’t worry about the Joshua-Wilder fight needing to marinate more. There’s obviously going to be at least 2 fights between them, maybe even 3 if they’re competitive. If Wilder destroys Joshua, then the rematch would make HUGE money. If the two fighters are lucky, they’ll be a controversial decision by the judges like with the Saul Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady “GGG” Golovkin fight. The boxing public loves controversial decisions. Yeah, it looks bad when it’s a total robbery like we saw in the Canelo-Golovkin fight, but the boxing fans don’t seem to mind. They happily purchase tickets and buy the rematches online in high numbers regardless of the controversy.
Just based on the way that Hearn is dragging his feet with the Joshua-Wilder, you can argue that he’s not ready to make that fight. It looks to me like Hearn wants to let it marinate for another 2 years. In an interview on Thursday, Hearn said it himself that the Joshua vs. Wilder fight needs another 2 years to marinate before it will bring in the kind of money that it can potentially bring in, making tens of millions of dollars. The problem is Hearn can’t afford to wait. There’s too much risk in waiting. Joshua almost got knocked out in his last fight by Wladimir Klitschko, and Wilder is only big punch away from being stopped himself. Both heavyweights are too shaky in terms of their chin and stamina for Hearn to let the fight marinate for 2 years. Believe me; if Hearn tries to let the Joshua vs. Wilder fight marinate for 2 years, he’s going to be crying crocodile tears when one of both get beaten by someone else. Greed is not good in boxing.