By Scott Gilfoid: Anthony Joshua says he plans on fighting WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder at some point, and he’s certain he’ll beat him when the time comes. The question is when will Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs) take the fight with the powerful Wilder?
Joshua has been wasting time fighting non-champions Wladimir Klitschko and Carlos Takam, and not going after the fight the boxing fans want to see in Wilder. Yeah, it was great that Joshua fought 41-year-old Wladimir Klitschko, but it was a meaningless victory because the Ukrainian fighter was well over-the-hill and hadn’t fought 2 years and hadn’t won a fight since 2014. That was three years before he fought Joshua.
This Saturday Joshua is facing WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker. Wilder was interested in fighting Joshua, but AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn went for the easier target in making a fight against Parker. What do you say about that move other than it makes Hearn look like he has no confidence in Joshua that he can beat Wilder.
“One hundred percent — there’s no doubt in my mind that fight will happen,” Joshua said to ESPN.com about Wilder. ”And there’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll beat Wilder as well. This is where we’re heading,” Joshua said.
If Wilder is where Joshua is heading, then why his promoter Eddie Hearn trying to shove his Matchroom Boxing stable fighter Dillian Whyte down Deontay’s throat by constantly talking about wanting to make him an offer to come to the UK to fight him in June. Hearn has been trying like mad to get Wilder to take the fight with Whyte since last year, and it looks like he’s hoping Dillian beats him. Why would Hearn hope that Whyte beats Wilder? I think it’s obvious. Hearn sees Wilder as a real threat to beating Joshua.
”I don’t think they want this fight,” Wilder said to TMZ.com about Joshua and Hearn. ”I’m starting to hear about restraining orders and all this stuff. Joshua said he didn’t want the hype. That he was going to call security. My thing is, Eddie is always talking about building the profile and hype his fight up. What’s the biggest place and the biggest opportunity to do it, and it’s free advertising,” Wilder said.
Wilder brings up a good point. If Joshua really wanted the fight with him, then why wouldn’t he use the opportunity after the Parker fight to let Wilder enter the ring, so he could confront him? Even if the British Boxing Board of Control had rules against fighters entering the ring afterwards, Wilder should still be able to talk with Joshua and hype the fight. Joshua said that he doesn’t want to start hyping the fight with Wilder until it’s made. But what’s sad is Hearn still wanted Wilder to come to the UK this week, but not to hype the Joshua-Wilder fight.
What many boxing fans believe is Hearn wanted Wilder to come to Cardiff on Saturday so that he could push a fight between him and Dillian Whyte. That’s not the fight that Wilder wants. It’s the one that Hearn wants. So, if Wilder went to Cardiff this Saturday, there’s a good chance that it would be Whyte that is in his face, pushing for a fight in June, and the boxing media would be pressing Wilder with questions about a fight against Dillian instead of Joshua. What a waste of time that would be for Wilder.
”I ain’t going to the fight. We made a team decision not to go,” Wilder said. ”I said I would come out there on one condition, and that condition was at the end of the fight if Joshua win, I get in the ring and confront him. The next thing I know is I get a call from my manager stating that I’m not going to be able to get in the ring, but they still want me to come. But I already told them what condition I’m coming,” Wilder said.
What good would it be for Wilder to come to Cardiff if he’s unable to hype a fight between him and Joshua? If Wilder went to Cardiff, it wouldn’t be the Joshua fight that he would be hyping. It would be Whyte, and it would be a nightmare for Wilder. It would be one question after another by the local media, saying, ‘Deontay, how come you don’t want to fight Whyte? Are you afraid of him? Why not fight Whyte to help build the Joshua fight? Don’t think you can beat Whyte?’
It would be these kinds of questions repeatedly by the local media to Wilder, and it would be pointless for him to come over there. If Wilder wanted to fight Whyte, then yeah, it would be great for him to go to Cardiff this Saturday night, so he can hype that fight up. But it’s not fair to Wilder for him to travel all the way to the UK hoping to build a fight with Joshua, but then getting stuck with Whyte and having either to either ignore him or tell him that he’s not interested in the fight. If Whyte makes a scene out if, then it helps his popularity and hurts Wilders. It’s a negative for Wilder either way you look at it.
” There’s a lot of pressure from fans in America, media and the papers for Wilder to step up and fight,” Joshua said. ”And now we’re here and I’m that champion and I’m definitely looking forward to it. That’s why back-to-back, I’ve been racking up these belts one by one and taking fights. We’re headed towards the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world.”
It’s interesting how Joshua is spinning this to make it seem like Wilder isn’t the one that wants the fight rather than him and his promoter Eddie Hearn. Unfortunately, there are few boxing fans who believe that Wilder is the problem that is keeping the Joshua fight from happening. Joshua and Hearn are the ones that are seen as the problem by fans, not Wilder. The boxing fans think Joshua is ducking the Wilder fight. It’s hard not to think that when you see Joshua fighting the likes of Parker and Takam instead of Wilder.