Joshua vs Wilder: Flaws. Ducking? Politics?

By Mark - 04/06/2018 - Comments

Image: Joshua vs Wilder: Flaws. Ducking? Politics?

By Mark McCourt: A hot topic in boxing at the minute for many reasons. This must happen fight seems to have polarised fans. On one hand we have people that believe Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder is the baddest man on the planet, the cream of the crop of heaveyweights. With his ridiculous KO power he has the rest of the division hiding from him especially AJ and his outspoken promoter. On the other we have people  that literally see AJ as the next coming of Muhammed Ali, they seem to think his quick rise to the top of the division and his exciting fight with Klitschko have shown him to be the figurative saviour of the heaveyweight division.

In truth we have two flawed champions that are on a collision course. Wilder looks sloppy at times he throws looping punches that often hit with the inside of his glove. His footwork is unbalanced and clumsy looking and he has a very unorthodox fighting style, yet here he is undefeated  with a blistering 98% KO ratio. Wilder appears to do everything so wrong yet it’s right! He proved in his last fight that he can stick to a game plan. He has one hell of a chin and can easily turn any fight around with his ferocious power. Many people have him little to no chance against Ortiz and whilst Wilder May have been getting outboxed he walked away the winner leaving no doubts!!

AJs last outing was less than spectacular. AJ has a bit of a look of Wladamir 2.0 now. His safety first approach in this contest seemed very buzzard to me. Parker is by no means considered a dangerous puncher and was far smaller than AJ, yet AJ was very cautious to engage ( the ref also seemed cautious to allow any inside engagements), this lead to a very dull fight. One has to wonder if the fight would have played out differently had the red not bizarrely interrupted every time they got started to fight on the inside. AJ since being under trainer Rob McCraken hasn’t looked like the same fighter. I wonder weather he is the right man for the job. One or two moor snoke fester and AJs popularity will surely decrease.

Wilder seems to get a very hard time from fans. They like to point out his lack of pure boxing skill and claim all he has is power. If that was the case I don’t think he would find himself in his current position. He hasn’t had anything handed to him and whilst his record is somewhat padded, he came to the game late and now has a serious win under his belt. I believe he is being poorly managed and this has left him without the big bucks and a big platform to get himself noticed as much as he should. A 6”7 giant that is always in an exciting fight that you can pretty much guarantee will end in a KO should be a bigger household name . So just what are his management thinking? Why didn’t he turn up to the AJ fight? Why haven’t they agreed to fight Whyte as a chance to not only secure the AJ showdown but to also build the fight to make him more money? People argue that he shouldn’t face Whyte because he is unproven or he hasn’t earned it. Whyte just but on a a clinic against and undefeated former world champion and is now number 1 rates at WBC how he hasn’t earned it is bizzare. Did previous Wilder opponents such as Johan dauhpas earn it? Has Brezeale earned it more than Whyte? Will he earn more against Brezeale? These questions need to be asked because Wilder should be putting himself in the situation to get some money. His management team are terrible and I hope Wilder sees sense and drops them.

AJ on the other hand has had an easy ride. Eddie Hearn has done everything just right for him. He built him up on big ppv indercards in the uk ensuring they constantly mentioned that gift gold medal he received in the olympics. He marketed a rivalry with Dillian Whyte and made a headline show of it, this resulted in an exciting fight with the beef between them making for a great build up. They then purchased a world title of Charles Martin to make him a champion and this all culminated in a showdown with the former dominant force of Klitschko. Again this was an exciting fight and AJ managed to come away victorious after some major scares. This is the difference between being promoted and managed well and being managed and promoted badly.

The big questions buzzing around now are around weather one or the other is scared to fight. Of course neither of them are. What you have is simple Eddie Hearn is a crude business man that is aware that this is the big fight and that after this unless Fury returns to his former glory AJ has no one else to have a big rivalry against to make them big money if he manages to win. So he is aiming to build the fight. AJ vs  Miller in the USA Wilder vs Whyte in the Uk to build both fighters to the others respective market build a bit of beef up between the two and you have the makings of a huge money fight.

Hopefully this fight does not fall apart because of politics. Wilde has been making a lot less money that AJ and will need to realise he is not the draw here. He must accept a 60-40 cut in AJs favour if he is to secure this platform to make himself one of the biggest names in the sport and that gamble is worth it. Undisputed champion with a signature win over a juggernaut. Let’s sincearly hope Wilders management and promotional teams do not make a mess of this for him as I sincerely believe he would KO AJ.

Lets all stop assuming one is scared and sticking up the other. Let’s just push the fight and if Wilder bs Whyte is what’s needed let’s oush for that too. It will be a good win for Wilder and he will most definitely win that fight so what’s to lose?