By Charles Brun: Trainer Malik Scott says Anthony Joshua doesn’t want the fight with Deontay Wilder, and he’s fine with going through the remainder of his career without facing him.
Malik notes that Joshua has failed to push for the fight with Wilder, and knows why. AJ recognizes that his fighting style is “picture-perfect” to be knocked out by Wilder, so he’d rather fight guys like Jermaine Franklin & Robert Helenius.
Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, hasn’t come out and said it directly, but it’s widely believed that he’s going to keep AJ out of harm’s way from dangerous opposition, like the former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay until Tyson Fury is available to fight him.
The Fury vs. Joshua fight might not happen until the second half of 2024 because Tyson has two contests that he needs to get out of the way against IBF, WBA & WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk first after his crossover contest against novice boxer Francis Ngannou on October 28th.
Wilder (43-2-1, 42 KOs) invested much time waiting on a fight with Joshua (26, 23 KOs), but with nothing to show. Instead, Joshua will be fighting a fringe contender in December, and it’s unknown if he’ll face Wilder in Deontay in 2024.
Malik fails to realize that Joshua’s career has been carefully orchestrated, with him being kept away from Wilder and other dangerous heavyweight killers. From the point of Joshua won his controversial gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics to where he is now, he’s been moved with precision by his chess-master promoter Hearn.
When Joshua did suffer losses, it was against fighters he was expected to beat, such as Usyk and Andy Ruiz Jr. These fights were supposed to be easy victories for Joshua, but they turned out to be failed cherry-picks.
Wilder being avoided
“When you’re the hardest puncher in the history of the sport, it’s very hard for guys to want to fight you,” said Malik Scott to Fighthype about fighters not wanting to face Deontay Wilder. “I’m going to say a number. Four million dollars. Fighters would rather stay poor than make four million dollars [fighting Deontay]. That’s a tragedy.”
Malik doesn’t say which heavyweight turned down the $4 million + upside to face Deontay, but it’s pretty easy to guess who it is. We’re talking about Andy Ruiz Jr., who already reportedly priced himself out for a fight against Tyson Fury by asking for $20 million.
This is how it goes. When fighters get the taste of money from a big fight, they become spoiled brats and expect the same money or more each time they fight.
The tragic part is they sit & wait for a massive money fight to rain down from the sky on them, and they end up sitting inactive for years & years.
Eventually, they lose whatever marketability they had along with their skills, and they wind up coming back for less money & get whipped. From there, their careers go into a death spiral until they retire. Ruiz & Keith Thurman are textbook examples of that.
“They’d rather ask for 15 or 20 [million], knowing it’s not on the table for them, but they’d rather ask for that,” said Malik.” It’s insane. They know it does [have PPV upside fighting Wilder], but you got to understand it because their life is on the line, and it really is.
“Deontay is one of those fighters that can cut your switch off completely with one shot, and that’s what most fighters don’t want to face that specimen. They’d rather than like it and draw attention to their name, but do they really want to fight him? [Luis] Ortiz really wanted to fight him,” said Malik.
We saw Wilder knock Fury out cold in their first fight in 2018, and the referee gave a count while he was unconscious.
That fight should have been stopped on the spot, and a lot of people think the referee bent over backward by not pulling the plug. In the third, Wilder had Fury knocked out again, but a glacially slow account saved his hide.
Really, you can argue that Wilder won all three fights because Fury should have been disqualified for fouling in the second.
“That’s why he fought him twice. Ortiz really thought he could beat him, and that’s why he fought him twice. Tyson Fury really thought he could beat him. That’s why he won the fights he won with him,” said Malik.
Wilder being avoided
“We know the ones that really want to fight Deontay, and the ones that are trying to have their names attached to his so they can bring in more commercial and more marketing to themselves in their brand,” said Malik.
It seems obvious that Malik is talking about Joshua & Hearn using Deontay’s name to increase their marketing value to fool their gullible fans that they’re interested in fighting him next.
It’s the old bait & switch ploy, with Deontay’s name mentioned as a potential opponent for Joshua’s next fight, and then a bottom feeder is trotted in for AJ to face in another showcase fight. Hearn talks nonstop about Wilder and then brings in the hapless Agit Kabayel for Joshua to tear apart.
“We’re not interested in that. I just want him to fight. I’m so frustrated. He’s my brother. I love him. To me, out of all this s**t, he’s the one that’s not benefiting from it because it’s inactivity.
“Ruiz,” said Malik when asked who is more likely to fight Wilder between Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua. “AJ is cool if he goes his whole career without fighting Deontay. He don’t mind it. You don’t see him fighting for it.
“It’s the fighters at the end of the point. I don’t care what Shelly [Finkel] and Al Haymon are saying. You see Deontay out there calling fighters out. You have to take some of this from yourself.
“Yeah, your promoters and managers are a part of it, but as a fighter, you have to do your job to get the big fights done. To me, AJ doesn’t campaign about the fight [with Wilder] enough. He doesn’t want to really want it, and we know why. Because stylistically, he’s picture-perfect to be knocked the f**k out by Deontay.
“Yes,” said Malik when asked if Joshua is looking better with his new coach Derrick James. “I got tons of respect for DJ,” said Malik.
