By Scott Gilfoid: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) called IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua’s bluff on Tuesday by making a statement in telling him that he’s ready to fight him next in the UK if that’s where he wants the fight to take place.
Wilder, 6’7”, wanted to congratulate Joshua for his closer than expected 12 round unanimous decision win over WBO champion Joseph Parker (24-1, 18 KOs) last Saturday night at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
Wilder said that he saw the Joshua-Parker fight as a robbery, as he felt that Parker, 26, had done enough to earn the win. The judges disagreed in giving Joshua a VERY wide win by the scores 118-110, 118-110 and 119-109. What those scores translate to be the judges seeing Joshua win by 10 rounds to 2 [twice] and 11 rounds to 1. Those scores were obviously tilted dramatically in Joshua’s favor.
Here’s what Wilder had to say about Joshua in accepting his challenge as his next opponent:
“First of all, I want to congratulate Anthony Joshua on his win last Saturday night. Anthony, I am so glad we finally heard from you on Saturday and that you want to fight me as your next opponent and you want the fight to happen in the UK.”
It really doesn’t matter that Joshua called Wilder out, because the camera was rolling with the spotlight on him. Joshua had to say something because Wilder is the only one that the British boxing fans want to see him fight. There’s no interest in a Joshua vs. Dillian Whyte rematch or a fight against Alexander Povetkin or Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller. Wilder, 32, commands all the interest from the British boxing fans, as they realize the tall knockout artist has the talent to potentially beat Joshua, so they want to see if he and somehow defeat the unbeaten American and turn back the threat. The Joshua vs. Wilder fight still might not happen, especially given the way Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing has been talking constantly about how Wilder doesn’t draw well in the U.S, and how he’s not popular the way Joshua is his own country.
Hearn talks down the Wilder fight constantly, and that’s not the norm for promoters that are eager to make a fight. Promoters that want to make fights, don’t disparate their fighter’s opponents to the media, because that works against the fight being a huge one. If you have a guy like Hearn saying that Wilder isn’t a draw, unskilled and can’t even beat Dillian Whyte, then tells you that he’s not interested in making the Joshua-Wilder fight.
Hearn has been devaluing Wilder. You can argue that the purpose behind that strategy is to get the boxing media and the fans off his back so that they’ll stop pressuring him to make the Joshua vs. Wilder fight. If Hearn can downgrade Wilder enough in the media, then the boxing fans will forget about him and start pressing him to make fights against Whyte, Povetkin and Jarrell Miller. In other words, the fans will push for fights that Joshua has a better chance of winning.
Here’s Joshua’s challenge to Wilder from last Saturday night:
”Don’t believe the hype about him. People know me know I don’t do that, so we will sit down, my team and Eddie Hearn and then they can talk to his team and Al Haymon, then we’ll see. Just like Dillian said, ‘Wilder, let’s go.’”
Well, immediately after Joshua spoke of wanting to fight Wilder, Hearn said that Wilder doesn’t want the fight with Joshua and that his team has never contacted him and made an offer. It sounded weak from Hearn. In ready Hearn’s body language, he looked like a promoter who didn’t want to make a dangerous fight, and you can’t blame him one bit. Hearn is riding the gravy train right now with Joshua fighting a lot of easy guys that he can beat and make tons of money against. If Joshua doesn’t need to fight good opposition to make loads of dough, then why in the heck would he want to risk his unbeaten record against a talent like Wilder, who could end the money train. Right now, Joshua is adored by millions of boxing fans worldwide.
If Joshua fights Wilder and gets knocked out, you can bet that those fans will be jumping overboard straightaway and they won’t be getting back on board. Look what happened to Manny Pacquiao’s fan base after his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2015. Before that fight, Pacquiao was HUGELY popular, bringing in massive amounts of PPV buys on HBO no matter who he fought. However, that all changed after Pacquiao lost to Mayweather. Pacquiao’s PPV buys dropped off tremendously, and they’ve never come back to where they were before. What we learned from that is it only takes one loss sometimes for a fighter to lose massive appeal in the boxing world. As such, you can’t blame Joshua and Hearn for not being eager to fight Wilder, because if it goes badly for them, they might not be able to recapture their lost fans.
“I accept that challenge and I am ready to come to the UK for my next fight,” Wilder said in accepting Joshua’s challenge of him. ”There is nothing on Team Wilder’s side to prevent me from fighting you next.”
Poor Deontay, he doesn’t seem to realize that Hearn is showing signs of not being interested in wanting to make the fight. Hearn has arguably been swerving the Wilder fight for some time. Hearn sounded gleeful when he was talking about Dominic Breazeale pulling out of the IBF ordered heavyweight title eliminator against Kubrat Pulev to presumably face Wilder in June or July. But now that Wilder has confirmed that he still wants the Joshua fight next, it’s sad news for Hearn. I wish could see the look on Hearn’s face now, because this is not good for him. I’m hoping that Hearn doesn’t keep coming up with different excuses for why he can’t make the Joshua-Wilder fight, because it’s forlorn at this point. If Joshua isn’t up to the task, then Hearn just admit it and tell the boxing world that Wilder is still a little too experienced at this stage, and Joshua needs more time to develop his new Wladimir Klitschko style he’s using.
“You also said on Saturday that your team is ready to meet with Shelly Finkel and Al Haymon from my side to get this deal done,” Wilder said. ”They are also ready to meet with your team immediately. Let us know when – the sooner the better. Thanks Anthony, I can’t wait to meet you in the ring.”
So, there it is. Wilder has accepted Joshua’s challenge, and he’s ready to travel to the UK to fight him in his own country. Hearn needs to make Wilder a serious offer, so they can get the ball rolling. I don’t know what’s fair or not, but it seems to me that a 55-45 or 60-40 split of the purse would be fair for both. Joshua obviously rates the bigger cut of the loot, but Wilder deserves a respectful cut. I don’t think Wilder will agree to a 75-25 or 70-30 split. That’s too tilted in Joshua’s favor.