By Damian Poole – Anthony Joshua (21-0-20 KOs) vs Deontay Wilder (40-0-39 KOs) looks to be in jeopardy after a recent interviews on YouTube with Lou Dibella. But first of all let’s elaborate how we got to this sorry state of affairs.
In the past, Deontay Wilder has been very vocal on social media about wanting to fight Anthony Joshua ever since the Britons rise to fame, beating Charles Martin and capturing the IBF belt. The Bronze Bomber has made it clear, he feels that he has been made to jump through hoops to get a shot at Joshua. By having to fight Dillan Whyte first or proving he is the real deal by fighting Louis Ortiz. while insisting these obstacles are put in his way as a sign that Anthony is ducking him.
Anthony Joshua promoter, Eddie Hearn reached out to wilders managers (Shelly,Al,Luis) late last year to broker a deal. Wilder wanted a outrageous 50/50 split. Obviously With Anthony Joshua being the A side, Hearn did not feel that represents Anthony worth and what he brings to the table. Negotiations soon brook down and Joshua ending up fight Joseph Parker for the WBO belt, while Wilder maintained his stance that Anthony was ducking him and never really wanted the fight.
Faster forward to April 10th 2018, Hearn made a new offer to Wilders managers via email in a flat fee of $12.5 million. This figure is roughly 10 times more than Wilders average payday or 5 time higher than he biggest fight to date. This offer had an expiry date of 10 days. Needless to say Wilders managers were not happy with this offer and said they will be making a counter offer in the next 24 hours. Fast forward two weeks later and we still haven’t heard of any kind of reply from Wilders managers. So Hearn has reached out to Shelly and Al again to arrange a personal meeting this Thursday in New York with the hope of reignite the stall negotiations.
There are a few “elephants in the room” I would like to address from my last paragraph. Firstly, the offer of $12.5 million seems to hit a nerve with Wilder and his fans. But I’m confused why? especially with Wilders attitude towards money in the past. Here is what he had to say to Fight Hub TV.
All I want to do is prove I’m the best. I don’t care about nufin else, I don’t care about the fame, none of dat. When did we start caring about the social media followers, when did we start caring about MONEY and s*t. A champion should fight a champion. So when a champion calls another one out, he should fight, that’s what it is.
Do I need to spell it out for those who believe every world that comes out of Wilders mouth as if it’s the gospel truth? If wilder does not care about the money, why on earth has he turned down $12.5 million as if it was some kind of insult? He should take the money After being called out by Joshua i.e. A champion should fight a champion When a champion calls out another one. But Wilder has a bad habit of rejecting offers. (Apparently) Wladimir Klitschko offered Wilder $7 million, Whyte offered $5 million and with AJ’S offer of $12.5 that would total $24.5 Million rejected. Does that sound like the actions of someone who is serious about being undisputed world champion or someone ducking? I’m just saying.
Secondly, why hasn’t either one of Wilders many managers responded with a counter offer like they had us believing they would?. It’s been two weeks now, surely it doesn’t take that long to reply “NO DEAL” or at least something to that effect. It starts to make one wonder if they were serious about this fight after all. You have to ask yourself, why has Deontay Wilder, one of the biggest prolific social media warriors, all of a sudden gone quite? I’ve not heard a peep from bronze bomber in weeks after Anthony called him out, it’s like he’s gone A.W.O.L. Doesn’t it make you wonder why?
Well, negotiations have taken a turn for the worst this week, putting team Wilders in bad spot. I’m referring to the recent interview with Lou Dibella. I’m surprised some of boxingnews24 popular contributors, Scott Gilfoid or Tim Royner have not covered this interview already. So it pleases me to be the first. I’m sure by now many of you are aware of the interview I’m talking about. Here are some of the most interesting quotes from the fight hype interview that lead me to believe Deontay Wilder will not be fighting Anthony Joshua next.
If Eddie is serious about making a deal, he will make a deal. People don’t make deals by sending emails to one another….. Let that sink in for a minute. People don’t make deals via email? What does he expect Hearn to do? Use one of Iron Mike Tyson carrier pigeons with a offer strapped to its foot? The hole point of email is to leave a paper trail so one has proof of what has been said. We all know Shelly Finkle loves to bring out Eddie Hearn’s emails at press conferences . Any ways let’s listen to more of Lou’s pears of wisdom.
Deontay said were not chasing anyone around its not our job to be chasing. I’m not sure who or what Lou is talking about here. Eddie Hearn has been doing all the chasing and travelling across the pond to make a deal with Wilders managers. Deontay couldn’t even be bother to travel to Cardiff to commentate on the Joshua – Parker fight that he was being paid for and in the process, hype up the fight with himself and Joshua.
I don’t really look at what’s been sent by the guy in England to a bit of good faith situation or opening negotiations. It was a grand standing publicity kinda thing, and ok man he’s doing his thing, let him do his thing. I don’t even want to respond to it. There you go people, Lou Dibella has admitted he has received a offer from Eddie Hearn but he doesn’t want to respond to it. Does that sound like the actions of a man who wants to make a fight? Sure as heck makes it look like team wilder aren’t really interested in making the fight. Maybe they were just name dropping Anthony Joshua to gain exposure and attention for a possible fight with Dominic Breazeale.
Wilder is in talks with Breazeale for his next fight, True or False?. Aw.. I mean.. I know like.. I don’t think anyone is in.. in.. talks on anything rite now. Ohhh boy it sounds like Lou was really put on the spot with that question. He was stuttering/hesitating and really trying to avoid giving a honest reply. Lou never really 100% answered true or false. But saying “I don’t think” Is code for, I don’t want to lie but I don’t want to tell the truth either. So why didn’t Lou not answer the question with a definite NO if there wasn’t a element of truth?. This would at least to an end to the rumor. Dominic Breazeale has said on social media he has a big fight lined up and will let his fans know soon. I would be willing to bet that Deontay Wilder is Dominic Breazeale next opponent.
Hearn is waiting on a counter offer, He didn’t get one. Dude I got work to do I’m promoting an event tomorrow night what the f*** it wasn’t a negotiation, sending out something saying ok here is our offer you have 10 days to respond. That’s not the beginning of negotiations. Wow I’m kind of shocked, I’m just glad Lou Dibella is a promoter and not a manager. But in case Lou didn’t know, Hearn and Joshua are on a limited time frame to make this fight happen. Other wise in two weeks time they will have to make a deal with Alexander Povetkin or lose his WBA belt. And yes it was a offer of $12.5 million that’s why it’s called the start of negotiations.
So this leads me to the title of my article. Lou Dibella didn’t say word for word, Wilder wont be facing Anthony Joshua next but not replying to Hearn’s $12.5 million offer, the suspicion surrounded Dominic Breazeale and the fact Deontay Wilder has gone quiet on social media tells me Wilders team are not serious about the Joshua fight.
So what will happen next? Here is my prediction, remember you heard it here first. Team Wilder was never really serious about fighting Joshua. But after all the trash talk, accusing Anthony ducking Wilder etc.. It will look bad on Wilder and his managers if they come out and say they are fighting Dominic Breazeale next. So this is why they are stalling the negotiations, forcing Hearn to run out of time and having to make a deal with Alexander Povetkin. That will give wilder the excuse he needs to save his own face by say Anthony Joshua is still ducking. I’m just saying.
Before I wrap up this article, Here are some rhetorical questions the wilder fans need to ask them self.
Why hasn’t wilder managers sent a counter offer?
Why has wilder gone quiet on social media about facing Anthony?
Why would wilder fight Breazeale next and not AJ or at least Whyte?
Why has Wilder rejected $12.5 million if he doesn’t care about money?
Who has is really doing all the ducking and dodging?