Hearn wants Joshua vs. Wilder at Wembley Stadium

By Boxing News - 11/03/2017 - Comments

Image: Hearn wants Joshua vs. Wilder at Wembley Stadium

By Scott Gilfoid: Promoter Eddie Hearn is interested in staging the big unification between IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and WBC champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder next summer at the giant-sized Wembley Stadium in London, England.

Hearn is still talking about the fight not being as big as it could be, but he acknowledges the boxing fans want to see the Joshua-Wilder fight right now. It’s become totally clear to Hearn that Wilder WILL NOT do him a favor by fighting his Matchroom Sport stable fighter Dillian Whyte. That is a non-starter, and it’s a waste of Hearn’s time for him to keep pushing for Wilder to take that fight because it’s not going to happen. One thing is clear, Whyte won’t increase Wilder’s popularity in the UK or the U.S. Whyte is too mediocre of a heavyweight to give Wilder any additional popularity for beating him.

When asked by Sky Sports if he’s interested in staging the Joshua-Wilder fight at Wembley Stadium in the summer, Hearn said, “Yes. We want three fights for Joshua next year. He has his WBA mandatory, which is decided in the next few weeks, Joseph Parker, Deontay Wilder and maybe Tyson Fury. The Wilder fight must happen. At the moment, it is nowhere near as big as it could and should be, but I know what the fans want, they want it now,” said Hearn.

It’s good news that Hearn is finally coming to terms with the reality that Wilder won’t be fighting Dillian Whyte. Hearn should have figured that one out a long time ago, because Wilder was telling him in plain English that he had no interest whatsoever in fighting Whyte. Perhaps it’s a cultural thing Hearn’s inability to understand that Wilder wasn’t going to agree to fight Whyte. It’s difficult to understand how Hearn couldn’t figure it out a long time ago that Wilder wasn’t going to waste his time facing Whyte.

It was totally unreasonable for Hearn to ask Wilder to have to face Whyte just so that he could get the Joshua fight. Wilder saw it as an insult that he was being pushed to take the fight with Whyte. If the shoe was on the other foot and Wilder’s promoter Lou Dibella told Joshua that he needs to earn the fight against Wilder by first facing Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller in the United States, Hearn would have laughed him out of the room and likely seen his request as an insult. The reality is, Joshua isn’t a big name in the U.S, and he’s not shown the ability to bring in big ratings. It wouldn’t be unreasonable for Dibella to request that Joshua fight Miller first, but he obviously wouldn’t waste his breath asking Hearn to have Joshua take that fight. Dibella would know how a request like that would be received by Hearn and Joshua. It’s difficult to understand how Hearn could be so slow to understand how his request that Wilder fight Whyte first would be viewed by the Bronze Bomber and his promoter. Does Hearn have a hard time putting himself in the shoes of other people? It’s hard not to think that.

Wilder has a defense of his WBC title against Bermane Stiverne (25-2-1, 21 KOs) this Saturday night that he needs to get out of the way so that he can stay on track for the fight against Joshua next summer. Stiverne is a tough opponent with enough power to KO Wilder or any heavyweight in the division if he lands one of his big power shots on the button.

Wilder-Stiverne will be taking place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The fight will be televised on Showtime World Championship Boxing.

“This will be an electrifying fight. That belt isn’t going anywhere. I will unify the division,” said Wilder. “I will be the undefeated, undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. All I ever wanted to do is prove to the world that I am the best. I am the baddest. I hit the hardest. I am the most feared. My record speaks for itself,” said Wilder.

I don’t know if Wilder is the most feared fighter on the planet or not, but it does seem like Hearn has some trepidation about letting Joshua fight him. If Hearn had no qualms of putting Joshua in with Wilder, he would have done that a long time ago instead of wasting time matching him against the likes of Eric Molina, Carlos Takam and Dominic Breazeale. Wilder has the size, power and the hand speed to knockout Joshua, especially right now.

Joshua seems to be going downhill as a fighter with the way that he keeps adding more muscle with each fight. Wilder is so much faster than Joshua right now, and it didn’t used to be that way. Joshua has hurt his own physique with his love of lifting barbells, and he just won’t quit. It’s too bad. We’ll never know how good Joshua could have been, because he’s messed up his physique with his bodybuilding.

Stiverne, 39, is coming into the fight with Wilder off a 2-year layoff, and a terrible performance against Derric Rossy in 2015. Stiverne’s age and inactivity is going to hurt his chances of beating Wilder on Saturday. Stiverne will still have a puncher’s chance of winning, but that’s about it. He doesn’t have the size, youth or the sharpness to get the job done against Wilder unless he lands one of his big power shots right on the button against the 32-old Wilder on Saturday.

With Stiverne’s huge power, you can’t rule out an upset of Wilder, but I’m not counting on that happening. Wilder is the prime of his career right now, and he’s better than he was in January 2015 when he beat Stiverne to win the WBC heavyweight title. Wilder is healthy for Saturday’s fight.

Wilder’s right-hand problem, which prevented him from sitting down on his punches in the first Stiverne fight, is now no longer a problem. As such, unless Wilder injures his right hand again, he’s going to be a real problem for Stiverne. Once Wilder starts bouncing right hands off the chin of Stiverne with full force, the fight will likely be over with very quickly.

“When I knock him out, then nobody will be able to say they made it through against me. He was nothing but a lot of lumps and excuses after the first fight,” said Wilder.

Stiverne is the only guy to go the full 1 rounds with Wilder, and perhaps the only reason he made it the distance was the injury the Bronze Bomber suffered to his right hand.

The World Boxing Council needs to improve the way they rank fighters in the heavyweight division. It looks strange when a sanctioning body ranks an inactive fighter like Stiverne at No.1. Stiverne hasn’t fought in 2 years since November 2015. The WBC should have found someone else for Wilder to fight in a mandatory defense rather than Stiverne. There would have been no argument by boxing fans if the WBC had elevated Dillian Whyte as Wilder’s mandatory challenger after his win over Dereck Chisora last December. That would have made a lot more sense than Wilder defending against an inactive fighter like Stiverne.