Joshua says he’ll freeze out Wilder’s career if he’s not realistic

By Boxing News - 03/22/2018 - Comments

Image: Joshua says he’ll freeze out Wilder’s career if he’s not realistic

By Scott Gilfoid: Anthony Joshua has given WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder a stern warning in telling him to be realistic in the purse that he’s asking for or else he’ll freeze out his career and never fight him.

Wilder has been asking for a 40 percent purse for the Joshua fight, but that might be low enough for AJ. For him to be giving Wilder a warning that he’ll freeze him out, it suggests that he might want him to accept a purse in the 30 percent range. The 40 percent that Wilder is asking for is obviously just beginning point for the negotiations with Joshua. It’s likely that Wilder will need to accept below 40 percent for him to get the fight against Joshua. Just how much lower is unclear. It could be as low as 35 or possibly even lower if Joshua keeps warning Wilder that he’ll freeze him out permanently if he doesn’t agree.

Joshua saying that he wants Wilder to be “realistic” is his way of saying that he either accepts what’s offered to him by his promoter Eddie Hearn or no deal. Wilder was originally asking for a 50-50 purse split, but he’s recently backed off that demand by saying he’ll accept 40 percent of the purse if he can get the bigger purse in the rematch if he beats Joshua. Hearn says he would go for that deal, because he believes Joshua will win.

“Wilder has to be realistic and stop living the fantasy,” Joshua said to bbc.com. “If he was serious about the fight, we’d do serious negotiation. If not, stop hooting and hollering because we’ll just freeze him out.”

Sounds to me like Joshua is being childish. Does he want the fight with Wilder or not? If so, then Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn need to come to the negotiating table and start the process beginning at the 40 percent that Wilder is asking for. If they feel Wilder is asking for too much, then they need to give him an offer of what they’re willing to pay him. But for Joshua to start saying he’ll freeze Wilder out based on his trash talking, that sounds to me like he doesn’t want to fight the guy.

Joshua is freezing Wilder out, but he’s also freezing himself out in the process. That’s the thing about fighters that freeze out their best opposition. They think they’re only hurting their opponents, but in reality they’re getting hurt as well. Joshua needs the Wilder fight for his legacy and to win his WBC title. Right now, the only name on Joshua’s resume is Wladimir Klitschko, and he could have easily have lost that fight if the Ukrainian had sense enough to know that he needed to step on the gas and finish AJ after he had him hurt in the 6th. Joshua freezing out Wilder shows that he might be afraid of the danger that he brings to the fight. So instead of taking the risk against Wilder and potentially getting knocked out, Joshua is telling the boxing media that he’s going to freeze him out if he doesn’t get realistic about his purse and if he doesn’t keep quiet. I’m what other requirements Joshua has for Wilder in order for him to get the fight.

Joshua wants Wilder to not only agree to the smaller money, but it sounds like he also wants him to stop calling him out. So, he’s trying to control Wilder’s behavior outside of the ring. That’s interesting, because why should Wilder keep his mouth shut just to please Joshua and to try and get the fight. Joshua is using the money as leverage to try and control Wilder into being nice and quiet. I don’t think that’s going to work. Wilder isn’t the type to let himself be humbled and put in subservient position.

Wilder is willing to fight Joshua in his home country of the UK, and he’s willing to accept 40 percent. The way Joshua is talking right now, it sounds like he’s not really interested in fighting Wilder in 2018. Deontay needs to realize that. When you have a person letting you know that they’re going to freeze you out if you don’t do what they want and accept what they’re willing to give you, it’s a sign that they’re not enthusiastic about fighting you.

The problem is Joshua is making good money fighting guys like Eric Molina, Dominic Breazeale, Carlos Takam, Joseph Parker and Charles Martin. Joshua doesn’t need Wilder to make good money. Joshua can make excellent money defending his titles against Alexander Povetkin and Jarrell Miller in 2018. Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn probably figure that the money is so good fighting the regular contenders, so they don’t need to agree to Wilder’s request of a 40 percent purse. They’ll give Wilder a take it or leave it offer, and if he doesn’t agree to it, then they’ll continue to make regular title defenses. When you have a fighter that has the kind of fans base in boxing that Joshua does in the UK, they can basically freeze out opponents that don’t agree to their offers.

Joshua has a very good chance of staying unbeaten in defending his title against the contenders, but if he faces Wilder, he could lose. This isn’t a fight in which Joshua has a high percentage chance of winning like we see in most of his matches. It’s more like a true 50-50 fight where either guy can win. By dismissing Wilder permanently for him not keeping quiet and accepting the amount that they’re willing to pay him, Joshua and Hearn can justify freezing him out permanently. They can tell the boxing media that Wilder wasn’t being realistic. The reality is probably different, but the fans will never know. It boils down to Joshua not being keen about the idea of fighting Wilder.

Joshua has a fight on March 31 against WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker. Wilder will be part of Sky Sports’ commentating crew for that fight. Wilder is going to use that position to call out Joshua in front of the entire world. Joshua says he’s not interested in getting the hype machine going. That tells you right there that Joshua isn’t all that interested in the Wilder fight yet. Joshua has been talking about wanting to fight Dillian Whyte in a rematch, as well as Tyson Fury. For the time being, it looks like Whyte is the one that Joshua plans on fighting if he wins his fight this Saturday night against Lucas Browne at the O2 Arena in London, England.

“When we meet again, it is massive,” Joshua said to skysports.com about a rematch with Whyte. ”It’s a fight he wants again, and something I would be interested in.”

I think it bugs Joshua that Whyte was able to stagger him in the 2nd round in their fight in December 2015. Joshua seems to want to fight Whyte a second time so he can show the boxing public that it was a fluke thing that he was hurt by him in the 2nd round. Whyte has had surgery on his left shoulder since that fight, and he’s no longer able to generate a lot of power in his left hook, which was a dangerous weapon for him earlier in his career before he hurt his shoulder.