Is Joshua ducking? Or is Wilder a chicken?

Boxingnews24.com

By Damian Poole

As of lately there has been an ever-increasing amount of talk surround the possible unification fight between Britain’s Anthony Joshua (21, 0-20 KOs) and America’s Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs). Some fan are saying, Anthony and his promoter Eddie Hearn are ducking Wilder, while others are saying Wilder is scared to face Whyte before Joshua a d losing his big pay day.

Let’s take a deeper look at who said what and why. Anthony vs Wilder has been the dream fight many boxing fans have been wanting to see, WBC holder Deontay Wilder has been around the heavy weight division now for a long time, racking up an impressive 98% KO ratio in 40 fights. Whereas Joshua is still relatively still “green” to the sport with only 21 fights under his belt but with an equally impressive 95% KO ratio while capturing the IBF, WBA, IBO and WBO belts in the process. As a result, Joshua is seen as the face of the rejuvenated heavyweight division.

Is Eddie Hearn trying to use Dillan Whyte to block the Wilder Joshua fight?

Eddie Hearn is trying to set up a fight with his stableman, Dillan Whyte against Deontay Wilder, ideally before he will let the American take a shot at Joshua in late 2018.

It’s clear to see what slick Eddie is trying to do with Deontay and Whyte. By staging a fight in the UK around June, possibly at the O2 area with 20,000 seats on sky PPV and televised on HBO in America. A lot of eyes would be on the fight from both sides of the Atlantic with the consensus from many fans that Wilder would beat Dillan, thus setting the stage for a massive unification bout between AJ and wilder. I believe it has been Eddie Hearn’s plan all along to hype up the Anthony – Wilder fight using Dillan as cannon fodder. In return this will give Wilder more exposure to the British public, the biggest pay day of Wilder’s career to date while raising his own profile in the USA and UK, which he desperately needs. Around the same time Anthony Joshua could face American Jarrell Miller in the State to increase his own popularity.

Eddie Hearn said to SecondsOut, “Wilder against Joshua could be the biggest fight in world boxing, it’s very close already. It could be five times the size it is now, fans mustn’t lose heart with that and say ‘we want it now.’ Of course you want it now, you’re a fan. But it’s my job to build this into a huge fight. I’m not talking two years, I’m talking maybe 9 months or something like that. I want is Deontay Wilder to fight Dillian Whyte, I’m prepared to pay Deontay Wilder a lot of money to come and do it. If he beats Dillian Whyte he makes the Joshua fight 3 or 4 times bigger than it is now. But I’m trying to grow the fight, so it might be Joshua goes to American to box, to grow the Wilder fight.”

The only problem with this tactic when looking from the outside is it makes Joshua look like he is ducking Wilder by using Dillan Whyte as an escape alternative option. Deontay has been very vocal about this ploy, asking why he should have to jump through so many hoops just to get a shot at Joshua. But when the facts are laid out in front of you, it’s plain as day to see this is not the case. And let’s face it; Wilder needs bigger names on his resume. Also, it just makes good business sense to hype the fight of this magnitude especially when one of the boxers (Wilder) has problems selling out fights in his home town and isn’t a pay-per-view star.

Why didn’t Wilder attend the Joshua vs parker fight?

Deontay was meant attend the Joshua vs Parker fight, providing commentary for Sky Sports. Eddie Hearn had arranged a press conference on Thursday during the build-up the Joshua-Parker fight for Wilder to gain extra exposure in the UK and hype up the possible future fight between himself and Anthony. Part of Wilders terms/agreement to attending the Joshua-Parker fight was to be a loud into the ring if Joshua was victorious. But according to some mixed reports, one source claimed Joshua did not want wilder in the ring stating he would force a restraining order against the Deontay. Some other reports state that it was a trap by Eddie Hearn to force Wilder to fight Dillian Whyte.

Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn have commented on the Wilder not attending in interviews with IFL TV. Anthony said. “The only thing I said with not getting in the ring right, my opinion is you don’t dictate to me you’re (Wilder) getting in my ring. I invite you in that’s the difference, don’t tell me that I’m getting in the ring after the fight. I got to win it Number one, Number two I will call you in.” Eddie Hearn mirrored Anthony’s response, saying, “You can get in the ring. We’re not scripting it. This is about Anthony against Parker. This isn’t about Deontay Wilder. The only focus is the fight, and after the fight if Joshua wants to invite you into the ring which by the way he would, No problem.”

To be honest, I can totally see where Anthony is coming from, I wouldn’t want a stranger coming in to my home, telling me what to do. That’s not how it works. I believe the real reason why Wilder didn’t attend is down to his management. When you have 3 managers all telling you different stories and rumors about who said what and not hearing it for yourself straight from the horse’s mouth. Then you inevitably going to get the wrong end of the stick. This is the biggest PR blunder Wilder’s management team could have made if they were serious about setting up a fight between Joshua and Wilder. Someone needs to be fired if you ask me, I’m just saying.

Does the Joshua vs. Wilder fight really need hyping up or is Matchroom Boxing stalling?

A lot of people are saying the Joshua vs. Wilder fight doesn’t need hyping up anymore and they don’t see any reason why Matchroom Boxing are stalling the negotiations. Are the critics justified in saying they believe Hearn is scared to put AJ in the ring with Wilder and losing his cash cow? Well I beg to disagree. Wilder’s last fight against Luis Ortiz may have been entertaining to watch, but it wasn’t a smash hit with ticket sale at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn, New York, with only around 14,000 tickets sold at the gate. HBO broadcast figures don’t paint a pretty picture either. Only 1.2 million Americans tuned in to watch the fight.

Now if those viewing numbers were PPV, that would have been impressive. But they were not. To put those figures into context, the Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko fight sold out 90,000 seats at the Wembley arena in London, purchased over 1.5 million times in the UK alone, beating the record set by the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao in 2015. In edition German network RTL Fight had maximum of 10.4 million, with an average of 10 Million viewers (not PPV). Wilder doesn’t have a massive following in his home country let alone in the UK/Europe. That’s mostly down to the fact he does not have a promoter but instead 3 manager who let’s face it, aren’t doing a good job on wilders behalf especially with the advice on not attending the Joshua-Parker fight. It’s a shame, after 40 fights 39 viscous knockouts, yet nobody knows who Wilder is. We have a saying for this in the UK, ‘Too many chiefs and not enough Indians.’

But let’s remember we are talking about the unification of the heavyweight division with all four belts on the line, something that has never been done before in the history of the sport. Sure, the fight could be made now, but would it be as big or spectacular without all the extra hype and back story build up? I would sooner wait 6 months towards the end of the year than to have some half-cocked effort, quickly hashed together because Wilder and his band of managers are inpatient to get their biggest payday ever.

Why Hasn’t Hearn made an offer?

Wilder and his 3 managers have been very vocal in expressing the lack of offers/interest coming from Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom promotions. Which is another reason why wilder and his fans believes Joshua doesn’t want the fight. The Truth is, Eddie Hearn was the first person to get the ball rolling. Eddie Hearn said this to IFL TV:

”When he (Shelly Finkel) pulls up an email, like who does that? That’s a b***h move any way. the reason he pulled that up is because he met my old man Baza and they garbled like two hours ‘oh do you remember the day when we was doing this and that,’ as they do. I wrote to Shirley, ‘I hope u had a good chin-wag, and we’ll get some numbers to you.’”

Not long after the email exchange, Eddie visited Shelly Finkel and Al Haymon in the USA to discuss the possibility and willingness to make the fight. But the talks broke down when Wilder demanded a ridiculous 50/50 split, which Hearn wasn’t having any part of. According to Eddie, to date he hadn’t received any offers from wilders managers since the talks broke down. Some fan say wilder shouldn’t have to make any offers as Anthony is the “A-Side.”

Personally, I think this is total rubbish. Former IBF holder Charles Martin didn’t approach Anthony Joshua. It was the other way around, but no one cared when the B side approached the A side back then. It sounds like the Wilder’s fans are screaming double standards and making excuses for the ‘Bronze Bomber.’ Deontay has started to sing a different tune as of late, saying he will take any percentage cut as long as Joshua takes the same percentage in the rematch if he loses. Now Wilder has revised this offer again and now demands a 40/60 split. Sounds to me like Wilder is starting to lose confidence in his own abilities. After all, this would be the biggest payday of his career and a lot of money to miss out on if Wilder received a royal whooping. I’m just saying.

Does Deontay really want the fight? Or is Anthony scared?

It doesn’t look good that Wilder is constantly changing his negotiation demands practically pricing himself. With zero unifications in 40 fights, what is it Wilder is bringing to the table that makes him demand that much? It makes you wonder how serious he really is to become a unified world champion. Whereas Anthony Joshua is fast tracking his career to collect all the belts and titles.

9th fight won the WBC international heavyweight title.

13th fight won the commonwealth heavyweight title.

15th fight won the British heavyweight title.

16th fight won the IBF heavyweight title.

19th fight won the WBA and IBO heavyweight titles.

21st fight won the WBO heavyweight title.

Anthony needs Wilders WBC heavyweight belt to become the first heavyweight boxer to unify the division. Judging how fast Anthony has collected all these belts, it would be hard to make a case that he is scared, ducking or not interested in facing Wilder. It’s just that Anthony has a business head and Wilder doesn’t.

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