By Scott Gilfoid: Lou Dibella, the promoter for WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder (36-0, 35 KOs), gives him the advantage over unbeaten – but totally untested – IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (16-0, 16 KOs) in a fight between them. Dibella sees the 6’7” Wilder’s one-punch power as being one of the advantages he has over the 26-year-old Joshua.
Wilder’s right hand is a game changer, and he can land at any time. Dibella didn’t bother to point out that Deontay has much faster hand speed than the heavily muscled Joshua, and the much better mobility. Deontay hits faster and he’s not there to be hit in return due to his superior mobility.
Joshua doesn’t have the huge power, fast hands or the mobility to deal with a guy like Deontay. Joshua tends to plod forward slowly and then throw a lot of slow arm shots that he uses to halt his stationary opponent. With Joshua’s opponents just standing in place without moving, he’s able to throw enough arm punches to bang them out of there.
It usually takes a lot of shots before Joshua’s opponents cave in. Joshua does things in the opposite of Deontay. He requires more punches to do the same job and he seems to need his opponents to stand still or back up against the ropes so that he can unload his shots.
“I tend to see Deontay having an advantage in most situations because of the extraordinary one-punch power,” Dibella said to skysports.com. “Dillian Whyte was able to put a hurt on Joshua, so I would give Deontay an advantage, particularly right now.”
I’m not sure that Joshua will improve from where he’s at now. Joshua is 250lbs and seems to be the finished product. I thought Joshua was a better fighter back in 2009 than he is now. Joshua was lighter and quicker back in 2009 before he started adding useless muscle to his frame. Joshua was horrible in the 2012 Olympics in London in winning a controversial gold medal in competition that many fans thought he lost.
I don’t think Deontay will lose his punching power, hand speed and mobility anytime soon. You can tell from looking at Deontay, he’ll still be very good 10 years from now. With his punching power, light feet and hand speed, I can see Deontay fighting at a very high level up until he’s in his late 40s. I don’t think Deontay will fight that long, but I can see him fighting into his 40s for sure, but probably not as long as the 44-year-old Shannon Briggs.
Dibella wants to see Joshua build up his name in the United States before he starts thinking of matching Deontay against him. Joshua just signed a multi-fight contract with Showtime Boxing in the United States to have his fights piped into the U.S for American fans to see his fights. However, those fights will take place during the daytime unless Showtime plans on delaying the broadcasts of the fights to show them in the evening in the U.S so that more fans can see the fights.
If they televise the fights during the afternoon on Saturdays, then I don’t see many fans watching them. There’s too much competition during the day on Saturday from other sports for fans wanting to see a foreign heavyweight that they’ve never heard of or seen.
“Getting exposure in the United States is of critical importance, and Eddie Hearn knows what he’s doing,” DiBella said.
Well, if Joshua is going to get that exposure in the U.S, then he surely is going to need to start fighting in the U.S for that to take place. Joshua isn’t going to be able to become a big star in the U.S by having his UK fights piped into the U.S in the afternoons. Heck, even if the fights took place at night on Saturdays, he would still need to fight over there for him to become a big name.
Joshua can’t become a star by fighting only in the UK. That’s not how it works. Joshua needs to fight in America and he needs to fight some of the talented fighters like Luis “The Real King Kong” Ortiz. That’s a name that I’ve never heart Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn mention before as a potential opponent for Joshua.
You have to wonder why Hearn doesn’t mention Ortiz’s name. You see Hearn talking up Joshua’s June 25 fight against the over-matched Dominic Breazeale, who arguably lost to journeyman Fred Kassi last year, but you don’t hear Hearn mention Ortiz. How is Joshua going to become a big star in the U.S if he doesn’t fight there and isn’t being matched against the talents like Ortiz? I’m just saying.