Ring Observer Boxing by Scoop Malinowski
By Scoop Malinowski
Astute ring observers know that Deontay Wilder is nowhere near ready to face Anthony Joshua. So Wilder and his handlers, Shelly Finkel, Al Haymon and Lou DiBella have to create the illusion they want the fight and project their duckery on Joshua and Eddie Hearn.
Wilder made a big show that he was going to go to Wales and be ringside at Joshua vs Joseph Parker this past weekend, but at the last hour, the protected fraud American heavyweight found his excuse to escape having to go to Great Britain and face Joshua and British boxing fans and media. Hearn said Wilder could attend the fight but not be in the ring after the fight.
Wilder used this excuse to break his word and did not attend the fight, casting large doubts on the probability of Joshua vs Wilder happening any time soon.
Wilder is not ready, no matter what lies and rhetoric he says. He’s a minor star even in America and his best payday is a meager $1.5-2m for his last fight vs Luis Ortiz. Meanwhile, Joshua is a gigantic superstar, who sells out 80,000 soccer stadiums and earns around $20m per fight now. Joshua got a guaranteed $17m for Parker while Parker himself got a guaranteed $7m this weekend.
Wilder is controlled by Haymon and Finkel, who are surely thinking long term in regards to Wilder. To sacrifice Wilder now to Joshua would be a big mistake and most likely the end of Wilder. Although the fight is prime and public and media pressure are enormous on Wilder to face Joshua now, to produce a single, undisputed heavyweight champion, it won’t happen any time soon. Just like Haymon’s blueprint of protecting Floyd Mayweather from the Manny Pacquiao fight for six years, the same business model will be applied to Wilder vs Joshua.
Joshua would like to fight the skinny-legged, glass-jawed Wilder next but he and Hearn know the feeling is far from mutual. Wilder is still being developed and manufactured into a star. Though he is 40-0, he’s largely unknown in America and if you asked fifty people on the street who Deontay Wilder is, you’d be lucky to find one or two who know.
Joshua is a mega star right now, Wilder is in position to be created into one but it will take many more years and at least ten more wins, to get to 50-0. Haymon and Finkel are in this for the long haul and do not want to cash out now for about $10m. They want hundreds of millions, like Haymon got for protecting Floyd for all those years.
Wilder is already hinting that his next opponent will be Dominic Brazeale or Adam Kownacki, not Joshua.
Let me assure you it will not be Joshua. Wilder knows he can’t beat Joshua, just like Floyd knew he could not beat prime Pacquiao.
Welcome to boxing in 2018. Where protected frauds with big mouths and small accomplishments can pretend they are all time greats on the Mike Tyson Lennox Lewis level, when in reality, Wilder is nothing but a choreographed sparring partner who was knocked out in sparring by a Wladimir Klitschko jab.
