The heavyweight division in boxing is interesting again. We have Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, and Joseph Parker all undefeated, Joshua and Parker will face this Saturday to unify titles, but the fight everyone is clamoring for is Wilder vs. Joshua, and from the looks of it we might have another Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao situation thanks to promoter Eddie Hearn.
Wilder is the current WBC champion and to me he is the most dangerous of the bunch. What he proved against Luis Ortiz a very tough Cuban boxer who was undefeated then, is something you just can’t teach, Wilder had the heart of a lion and the one punch power to turn the fight around.
I strongly believe Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn doesn’t want his fighter to step in the same ring with Wilder, he knows his cash cow will lose his selling power because Wilder will likely knock him out cold if they exchange blows.
I’ve studied both guys, and up until Deontay fought Ortiz, I had the fight 50 50, but now I strongly favor the Bronze Bomber to win by KO.
The reason has to do with the way Anthony Joshua carries his muscle and his chin. Joshua has bodybuilder muscle and it hurts his cardio, when he fought Wladimir Klitschko he was hurt and on his way out but the older champion didn’t have enough left in the tank to finish him off. AJ won the fight by KO, I give him credit but he showed all that muscle doesn’t mean much when your stamina and chin are suspect.
Wilder was getting criticizing for his wild punching style, and people questioned if he could take a punch, well Luis Ortiz hit him with everything but the kitchen sink and still couldn’t knock him out cold. Wilder came back and landed vicious power shots to badly hurt the Cuban and stopping him in the tenth.
Eddie Hearn now acting like Bob Arum with all the stipulations for Wilder in order for him to fight AJ, remember when Arum protected Manny Pacquiao from facing Floyd Mayweather for more than 5 years? Well Hearn is asking for Wilder to fight Dillian Whyte and sign a contract with Matchroom (Hearn’s promotional company) in order to land Joshua.
I have to laugh at this. Why would the undefeated WBC heavyweight champion have to fight a no name guy like Whyte just to unify with Joshua. That makes no sense, they could put Deontay Wilder vs Anthony Joshua on right now and the fight will sell, but it should be in Las Vegas, not in the UK to be fair so no sneaky judging is abound.
Why didn’t WBO champion Joseph Parker who Joshua is fighting on March 31, not have to sign with Matchroom or fight Whyte or some other Hearn fighter first?
Hearn works with Al Haymon and he could be the main promoter of the bout, but he doesn’t need to force Wilder to sign with his promotional company, just make the fight and have a rematch, both fights will sell huge on Pay-Per-View.
The reason it won’t happen is Hearn has no confidence in his man, he knows Joshua is still green and his chin is suspect, he got nervous during the Klitschko fight but commended Joshua for his heart and determination.
Wilder has a right hand that will end guys and give them spasms on the canvas, if he touches AJ it’s nap time, don’t prolong this fight, make it now because one of these guys could wind up losing and it will lose its luster.
When Pacquiao lost to Timothy Bradley and then got knocked out cold by Juan Manuel Marquez, it hurt the super fight, Pacquiao had this aura to him but the KO took that away and fans jumped ship. The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight did 4.4 million PPV buys but if Arum allowed the fight to take place before Manny lost to Timothy Bradley, I believe it would have done more maybe even 7 million buys.
We all know why Arum never let that fight happen because like Hearn he knows his boy is not capable of beating the American. If Pacquiao lost that would end his hype and it would crush Arum’s pockets he was making millions of putting Manny in with Top Rank opponents while using the promise of a Mayweather showdown to lure fans to keep paying.
When fans asked Arum why no Mayweather fight, he would say Mayweather was ducking and coming up with excuses, when all along it was Arum who put up the road blocks with his refusal to co-promote.
You could have a similar problem with Anthony Joshua vs. Joseph Parker, what if Parker wins a decision over AJ like Bradley did over Pacquiao, or even worse what if Parker knocks him out cold? If that scenario happens on Saturday night, it would be one of the worst promotional decisions in boxing history.
If AJ wins make the fight, do it for the fans and for history, the winner will be the first undisputed heavyweight boxing champion since Lennox Lewis. Do it before it’s too late.
