By Eric Baldwin: If the cards play out right, the fans could be seeing a big fight in late 2017 between WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and IBF champion Anthony Joshua on Showtime. Joshua will need to win his fight against former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in early 2017.
Wilder, 30, will be potentially taking two tune-up fights to get ready to fight the winner of the Joshua-Klitschko fight for later in the year. Wilder will need a couple of tune-ups, because he’s coming off of a bad right arm and hand injury from his fight against Chris Arreola last April.
Wilder tore his right biceps and suffered a fractured right hand in that fight He’s had surgery to repair the problems and is expected back inside the ring in March or April 2017 for his first of possibly two tune-up fights.
Unbeaten Hughie Fury is one of the names that Wilder could be facing in early 2017. Hughie is related to former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, and has about the same amount of punching power. He’s not a puncher. It should be an easy fight for Wilder if it takes place. #15 WBC Jarrell Miller is also an option for Wilder. Miller can puncher, he’s huge, and he talks a good game. Wilder would likely be too fast for him, and we could see a knockout in that fight either way.
“If Joshua-Klitschko actually happens, I think the winner is a natural for Deontay. You can also look at the winner of Stiverne-Povetkin,” said Stephen Espinoza of Showtime to RingTV.com. “Either one of those I think is a really high-quality fight. But if I had to pick I’d say the winner of Joshua-Klitschko versus Deontay is just a massive, massive fight.”
The Joshua vs. Wilder fight is a much better fight than Wilder vs. the winner of the Alexander Povetkin vs. Bermane Stiverne fight. Deontay needs to make sure he gets through his tune-up fights without suffering another injury. Wilder already broke his right hand last year in his fight against Stiverne in January 2015. Now he’s broken it again with his 8th round knockout win over Arreola.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn will need to be in agreement with letting him fight Wilder in 2017. It’s not just up to Espinoza and Showtime Boxing whether Joshua will fight Wilder in 2017. Hearn has to give the green light before that fight takes place. Hearn is reportedly interested in matching Joshua against his recently signed Cuban heavyweight Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz in 2017, as well as possibly a rematch against Dillian Whyte if he beats former heavyweight world title challenger Dillian Whyte.
Either of those guys could get a crack at Joshua in the near future. It’s arguably important for Hearn to match Joshua against the 37-year-old Ortiz, because he looks like he’s aging, and he might not be able to remain unbeaten for too much longer unless Hearn matches him very carefully to keep him from getting beaten by one of the good contenders.
Ortiz looked old and slow in his win over Malik Scott this month. Hearn blamed the lack of action on Malik using movement all night long, but it wasn’t just him that made the fight a poor one. Ortiz looked slow in plodding around the ring and showing little energy in the fight. Hearn was counting on the fight making a name for Ortiz in the UK, but it ended up being bad news due to how poorly he fought.
“There are some interesting prospects, whether it’s someone like Jarrell (or Fury),” Espinoza said.
Joshua will be defending his IBF title next month on December 10 against American Eric Molina at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. The Joshua-Molina fight will be televised on Showtime Boxing in the States, and on Sky Sports in the UK. It’s a voluntary defense for the 6’6” Joshua, so there’s little chance of him losing the fight. Molina was already knocked out by Wilder last year in a 9th round knockout.
Molina has since comeback and beaten 40-year-old Tomasz Adamek by a 10th round knockout in his last fight. It was a good win, but obviously nothing special that would indicate that he’s going to have any kind of chance of pulling off an upset against Joshua next month.
Molina was selected solely, because he’s recognizable to the hardcore boxing fans in the U.S. Joshua is signed with Showtime in the U.S, so it’s important that he be seen fighting recognizable fighters that the U.S audience knows. The casual fans in the U.S don’t know who Molina is, but the hardcore fans do. They know him from having been knocked out by Wilder and Arreola. He’s well known in that respect. Joshua’s promoter Hearn could have done better in finding someone that was well known with a good track record.
Wilder will need to fight the winner of the Povetkin vs. Stiverne fight sooner or later, because they’re fighting for the interim World Boxing Council title. This means that Wilder will need to take them on at some point. It might be in Wilder’s best interest to get that fight out of the way as soon as he can, because it will give him a good opponent to fight if he can’t get Miller or Hughie to fight him. Miller will likely readily agree to a title shot against Wilder. Negotiating a deal with Hughie could prove to be a more difficult fight to make, because his management may require more time for the negotiations.