By Jeff Aranow: Deontay Wilder’s co-manager Shelly Finkel says ‘The Bronze Bomber’ won’t be attending Anthony Joshua’s fight against Andy Ruiz Jr. on June 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York, but he and DAZN chairman John Skipper will both be there in person to see the contest.
Finkel told The Sun that Joshua didn’t attend WBC heavyweight champion Wilder’s recent title defense last Saturday night against Dominic Breazeale at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, so there’s no point in him attending his match against Ruiz Jr. at Madison Square Garden in New York on June 1. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn invited Wilder to attend the fight, but it’s not going to happen.
Joshua had talked about wanting to attend the Wilder-Breazeale, but for some reason he didn’t go.
Finkel says the plan is for Wilder to face Luis Ortiz, Tyson Fury and Joshua in succession. Finkel isn’t saying what the order is for Wilder to fight those guys, but it’s believed that it’ll be Ortiz, Fury and then Joshua in that order.
“I had dinner the other night with John Skipper, we discussed the Joshua fight,” Finkel said to thesun.co.uk We’re working on that, and those three fighters, Deontay will be fighting all of them in a succession which we will hopefully work out in the next couple of weeks. In the next two weeks everything will be done, it will be said publicly what we’re doing and I believe the UK fans will also be happy.”
Deontay Wilder looks unbeatable right now
The UK boxing fans have been chomping at the bit to see Wilder fight Joshua. But if things don’t workout well for Joshua with him getting knocked out by Wilder like Breazeale was, the fans might have wished that AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn had not made the fight. Joshua is a good fighter, but his punch resistance and conditioning have both been shown to be lacking. Joshua might be running into a runaway locomotive in the form of Wilder. This is a bad time for Joshua to be trying to fight Wilder.
Fury (27-0-1, 19 KOs) has been doing a lot of talking since his 12 round draw against Wilder last December, saying that he should have been given the win. Fury didn’t fight like a winner though. Challengers are RARELY are given victories when they’re knocked down twice by world champions. It’s unheard of for challengers to get the nod with the judges when they’re dropped twice by champions. You can argue that Fury seems to have wanted special treatment by the judges. The referee gave Fury a big break by not stopping the fight on the spot in the 12th round when he was knocked unconscious by Wilder. The referee Jack Reiss took a different approach than the one that referees use nowadays by giving an unconscious Fury a count instead of waiving it off and immediately getting a medical staff inside the ring to look him over.
Deontay poised to become the biggest star in sports
If Wilder runs the table and knocks out Ortiz, Fury and Joshua in succession, he could wind up as the biggest superstar in sports, and the best paid. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing will insist on a rematch with Wilder, but that might be a bad career move for AJ. If Wilder knocks Joshua out for a second time, his pro career could be on skid row after that. Hearn will need to think twice about letting Joshua back in the ring with Wilder if he gets destroyed the way Breazeale did. Joshua’s punch resistance isn’t that great. It’s about the same as Breazeale’s if not worse. 40-year-old Alexander Povetkin had Joshua hurt last September, as did 40-year-old Wladimir Klitchko and Dillian Whyte, who had a bad left shoulder when he clipped him in 2015.
Joshua needs to change his fighting style before facing Wilder
Wilder’s fight against Dominic Breazeale showed that if you stand in front of him, he’s going to knock you out. Joshua is one of those type of fighters that comes right at his opponents looking to use his body-builder physique to run them over. It’s worked for Joshua against the mostly lesser fighters that his promoter Hearn has matched him against, but it could be a disaster for him against Wilder. Joshua likes to stand on the outside, jab and throw long right hands. When he does come forward, he’s a slow plodder due to his huge physique. Joshua will never be fast on his feet, because he’s carrying too much useless muscle weight. Unless Joshua can change his fighting style, he’s going to be walking into a lot of monstrous right hands from Wilder. As we saw in Wilder’s fight with Breazeale, it only takes one big shot by him to knock his opponents out.
Fury is likely going to get destroyed by Wilder in the rematch. As Wilder showed last December, he had figured Fury out in the last four rounds of the fight, and was dropping him left and right. You can believe in the rematch, it’ll be much easier for Wilder to knockout Fury. That fight might not last for more than one or two rounds.
Wilder (41-0-1, 40 KOs) gave Luis Ortiz (31-1, 26 KO) too much respect in their fight last year in March 2018. Wilder made the fight tougher than it should have been. Wilder effortlessly dropped Ortiz in the fifth round. It was so easy. In the seventh, Wilder had Ortiz trapped on the ropes, and he was looking to finish him in that round when he got caught. If Ortiz didn’t land that left hand counter, he probably would have been finished in the seventh round. Wilder wasn’t joking around in that round. In the rematch, Ortiz is going to have problems right away with Wilder’s right hand, and his self confidence. This is another fight where Wilder could finish it in the first round. Ortiz and Fury are both guys that likely won’t last for more than a couple of rounds at best.