By Chris Williams: Deontay Wilder’s promoter Lou Dibella says his fighter is NOT going to agree to fight Eddie Hearn’s fighter Dillian Whyte so that he can earn a unification fight with IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
Dibella says Wilder is going to knockout Joshua when the two of them face each other in 2018 if the fight gets made then, and he’s looking forward to it.
As far as Wilder facing Whyte in order to get the Joshua fight, Dibella sees that as a ridiculous request by Eddie Hearn. Dibella doubts whether Wilder would gain any additional popularity by beating Whyte in the UK, as he’s not a big star, and he’s done nothing with his career aside from losing to Joshua and almost getting beaten by Dereck Chisora last December.
Dibella views Wilder’s 1st round knockout victory over Bermane Stiverne last Saturday night as more than good enough to have increased his popularity in the boxing world. Wilder knock Stiverne down 3 times en route to scoring a 1st round knockout win.
“He’s a physical anomaly. His reach is like no other heavyweight,” said Wilder’s promoter Lou Dibella to the boxing media in talking about Wilder. “He’s like no other heavyweight, and the hardest punching heavyweight on the planet. He is the scariest heavyweight on the planet. I’ve been hearing all this bull [expletive] about whether he’s got to increase his profile. For a substitute opponent [Bermane Stiverne], there were 10,000 people at the Barclays Center, supporting Deontay Wilder. I have nothing but respect for Anthony Joshua, but I do think my guy beats him? Yes, Deontay Wilder unifies the belts. Deontay Wilder will knockout Anthony Joshua. Not beat him, knock him out,” said Dibella.
Dibella is convinced that Wilder will KO Joshua when the time comes when the two fight. Hearn was saying today that Joshua feels he’s going to knockout Wilder, because of his low weigh for the Stiverne fight. Wilder weighed in at 220 pounds for his fight with Stiverne. Joshua has recently been fighting in the 250 pound range, and looking solid. For his fight with replacement opponent Carlos Takam on October 28 last month, Joshua weighed 254 pounds, and looked trim at that weight and not bulky like you would think someone would look at that weight. Wilder would be giving away almost 40 pounds if he stays at 220 for a fight with Joshua. It’s been proven that fighters much lighter can beat heavier fighters, but it’s rare that a top fighter giving away almost 40 pounds was able to beat another top heavyweight. Giving away 58 pounds in weight, Jack Dempsey, weighing just 187 pounds, knocked out a 245 pound Jess Willard in the 3rd round on July 4, 1919. Willard wasn’t a great heavyweight. He was just big. Dempsey was a special guy. Whether Wilder can knockout the Willard-sized Joshua is the big question that we’re going to find out soon.
“No one in the country even knows who Dillian Whyte is. We’re going to go to England? I don’t give an [expletive] about what Eddie has to say,” said Dibella. ”I don’t have to go to England to fight someone because Eddie Hearn says so. I know Eedie Hearn has got a lot of bread, and he grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth, but it doesn’t mean he’s got to march to his marching order. He doesn’t control boxing, and he doesn’t set the mandatories. Let Dillian Whyte do something that lets him deserve a shot at a heavyweight title. What’s his claim to fame? He lost to Anthony Joshua, and almost lost to Dereck Chisora. He looked like a sleeping pill against Robert Helenius. You just saw tonight what Deontay Wilder does to a regular heavyweight. Let’s make a fight between the two best guys in the world. Let’s see who the man is,” said Dibella about Joshua vs. Wilder.
Hearn needs to forget about trying to make the Whyte vs. Wilder fight, and focus instead on making more realistic fights. Wilder is only interested in fighting one of Hearn’s Matchroom Sport fighters and that’s Joshua. It’s a waste of time for Hearn to keep trying to encourage Wilder to fight Whyte on February 3 in the UK, as it’s not going to happen. Hearn is going to need to make the Joshua-Wilder fight as is in 2018 without Wilder facing Whyte or whoever else he wants him to face.
“He’s the hardest hitting heavyweight on the planet,” said Dibella about Wilder. “We just got a mandatory out of the way tonight, so we don’t have to fight a mandatory anytime soon. Eddie Hearn wasn’t talking about Deontay Wilder before he looked like that tonight. If Deontay hits Anthony Joshua flush the way Klitschko hit AJ flush, he will be asleep. Eddie Hearn said Anthony Joshua at the end of 2018, so I’ll take him at his word,” said Dibella.
Dibella’s comment about having gotten Wilder’s mandatory defense out of the way with the WBC was in response to whether they’ll face Dominic Breazeale next. Breazeale defeated Eric Molina in a WBC title eliminator last Saturday night, so now he’s Wilder’s new mandatory. Dibella’s comment about Wilder not needing to make a mandatory defense anytime soon rules out the chance of him fighting Breazeale in his next fight.
”Who he [expletive] is Dillian Whyte? Why are you talking about him?” said Dibella. ”Would you recognize him if he walked down the hallway? Since when does the boss [Wilder] travel abroad to fight an ordinary dude for the right to fight another champion? Why, because his promoter says so? I don’t get this whole point it’s going to make him bigger in Great Britain,” said Dibella.
Dibella feels strongly about Wilder not needing to make a title defense against Whyte, who still isn’t his WBC mandatory. Dibella seems to resent Hearn pushing Wilder to defend against Whyte in order to raise his profile in the UK. Dibella takes that as an insult.
“No, it’s not. When you can do 70,000 with [Carlos] Takam, maybe you don’t want to go in the ring with someone that can knock your head off,” said Dibella about Joshua dragging his feet at the idea of facing Wilder. “It’s an ordinary bozo-ish fight because some promoter in the UK wants a payday for one of his ordinary guys,” said Dibella about Hearn wanting Wilder to fight Whyte in the UK. “Man, that’s not a reason to make a fight. Let’s make a fight that they want to see,” said Dibella about the Wilder vs. Joshua fight. “I don’t think he’s capable of doing the same thing to Bermane Stiverne,” said Dibella in doubting whether Joshua could knockout Stiverne like Wilder did. “He hasn’t proven the same thing to anybody. He doesn’t punch like Deontay. There’s only one heavyweight in the world right now that channels back, but he has that 1 punch knockout that Mike Tyson had. Deontay Wilder could be down 4 or 5 rounds in a fight, and he lands 1 punch and you are asleep. There’s no other heavyweight in the world that can do that. Eddie Hearn needs to be honest. If you tell me you need a little bit more polishing [for Joshua]. if he needs some experience, and you want to fight a few more fights before you do it, then say that, but cut out the [expletive], you got to fight Dillian Whyte and you got to do this. We don’t have to do anything you say, bro,” said Dibella.