Wilder fires back at Hearn’s saying he rejected Whyte fight

Boxingnews24.com

By Eric Thomas: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder was not happy when told that promoter Eddie Hearn had said he turned down $3 million for a fight against his fighter Dillian Whyte. Wilder says he wants Anthony Joshua to fight, but he’s not interested in taking the fight with him until 2020. Whyte is not the fight he’s looking for.

It’s not possible for Wilder to fight Whyte right now. Wilder has a title defense against his mandatory challenger Bermane Stiverne coming up on November 4 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Stiverne is taking the place of Luis Orti, who failed a drug test for the Wilder fight. Ortiz was supposed to be the one that was going to be facing Wilder. Ortiz is rated higher than Whyte in the rankings in the heavyweight division.

Hearn REALLY wants Wilder to fight Whyte, and he wants that fight to take place before he’ll let his No.1 heavyweight Joshua. You can argue that Hearn wants Wilder to increase the value of his fighter Whyte by giving him a fight, which would bring a lot of attention to Whyte in the UK with the boxing fans. It’s a winning sitiation for Hearn. Whyte’s value increases whether he loses or wins against Wilder. If Whyte beats Wilder, Hearn has a more popular fighter he can put in with Joshua for a big British bash on Sky Box Office PPV.

“Eddie Hearn is a promoter, just like other people, when you’re a promoter, and you don’t have to get in the ring, you can say whatever you want to say, because you don’t have to feel the pain,” said Wilder to Thaboxingvoice.com. “The only thing it can do, is harm your fighter. He said he can get me out in three but Joshua said he wants to me out in 2020, that doesn’t sound like a confident champion. I’m going to tell you one thing, it’s dangerous to [expletive] with a hungry lion. He already the king, but when you starve him, it’s a mess,” said Wilder.

Whyte will be fighting Helenius on October 28 on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua vs. Carlos Takjam at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Hearn signed Helenius on 2 weeks’ notice. It would be interesting to know how much Hearn paid Helenius to take the fight.

Takam is a replacement for Kubrat Pulev. Hearn and the International Boxing Federation had Takam on standby just in case the 36-year-old Pulev suffered an injury.

Wilder will be looking to do a better job on Bermane Stiverne in the rematch compared to what he did in beating him the first time around in 2015. Wilder defeated Stiverne by a 12 round decision in that after breaking his right hand in the 2nd round. Wilder was still able to use his right hand, but he didn’t get a lot of power on his shots. This time, Wilder intends on knocking Stiverne out. With Siverne now almost 39-years-old and inactive for the past 2 years, I’d say the chances of Wilder knocking him out are quite good unless he suffers another hand injury. Wilder has broken his right hand 3 times since turning pro in 2008.

Whyte believes he’s going to get a title shot against Wilder soon.

”No-one can deny me a world title fight if I win this fight. No-one can say I’m not ready or I haven’t fought anyone,” said Whyte to skysports.com in saying he won’t be denied a title shot against Wilder. “No-one can ever say that. I’m ranked highly across the board and I’m fighting a legitimate contender.