By Scott Gilfoid: Trainer Naazim Richardson says WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder (39-0, 38 KOs) should wait a little while longer before he faces IBF/WBA champion Anthony Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs), because he’s still too raw at this point and he needs a little more seasoning before he faces him.
Richardson thinks that Joshua would take advantage of Wilder’s looping punches by throwing punches straight down the middle to catch him. Richardson wants Wilder to fix that part of his game and some other areas before fighting Joshua.
Wilder and Joshua could be fighting in 2018 in the summer if the fight can get negotiated. It doesn’t look like it will though, given that Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn keeps saying that Wilder doesn’t rate a 50-50 split. Wilder wants an equal share of the money for the fight, which makes sense because he would be bringing in a lot of boxing fans that normally don’t bother to pay to see Joshua’s fights If Hearn is only willing to give Wilder a 65-35 or 70-30 split, then it’s safe to say the fight will never get made.
”Them wide shots that Deontay can throw, Joshua could loop down the middle of those things right now. But you give Wilder a little more time and keep that cake in the oven a little more, these mother [expletive] are in trouble,” said Richardson to Fighthype.com.
I disagree with Richardson. I think Wilder is more than ready to beat Joshua right now without any problems. If anyone needs more time, it’s Joshua. He needs to trim off 30 pounds of the useless muscle he’s put on since he won his Olympic gold medal in the 2012 Olympics. Joshua is now weighing 254 lbs. and he’s become slow and ponderous. We’re seeing Joshua gas out more and more in each fight.
Even with Wilder still being a little raw, he has the speed, power, agility, height and reach advantage over Joshua. If Wilder hits Joshua cleanly with even one shot, he could have him on the canvas the same way Wladimir Klitschko did. Wilder isn’t going to back off and start boxing once Joshua is hurt. Wladimir seemed to lose his courage at the worst possible time after he hurt Joshua.
Wilder isn’t going to do that. If he hurts Joshua, he’ll finish him right away. Joshua’s stamina is one of the worst I’ve ever seen from a world class heavyweight, and he makes it worse by adding increasingly more weight due to his weight lifting. I’m predicting right now that Joshua will be weighing in the 260s by the time he hits his early 30s. I see Joshua ending up in the mid-260s or possibly in the 270s. For the boxing fans that don’t know, Primo Carnera weighed in the 260s, and he struggled when he fought guys with speed and talent. Joshua might be heading the Carnera direction if he keeps adding more muscle.
”You wait a little while longer, when he starts correcting some of his mistakes and he starts to understand all of his gifts, these jokers going to really have a problem,” said Richardson about Wilder.
Wilder isn’t going to wait until he’s had more seasoning before he faces Joshua. He’s going to take the Joshua fight in 2018 if the fight can get negotiated. Joshua is so easy to hit. He might have to come up with some spoiling tactics like the ones we saw from WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders last Saturday night in his win over David Lemieux. Saunders ran, held and did a lot of shifting about in the ring to keep Lemieux from hitting him solid. Joshua is too big to run around the ring for long without gassing out.