Will great Anthony Joshua get to fight a caveman?
The spotlight was not on the battle site after the end of the dull world heavyweight unification championship duel in Cardiff, Wales, on Sunday. There was no colorful story to tell after Anthony Joshua, WBA, IBF, IBO heavyweight champion, added the WBO belt to his world title collection.
Joshua, after having scored 20 knockouts in 20 wins, for the first time failed to stop an opponent in New Zealand’s Joseph Parker.
It was a fireless confrontation and what immediately caught worldwide attention was the mindless cry issued by WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder that he would like to have a body on his record.
Bluntly put, Wilder has made it clear he wanted to be able to kill an opponent inside the boxing ring.
“When I’m in the ring, I don’t really care,” Wilder declared. “I don’t really care. Everything about me changes. I don’t get nervous. I don’t get scared. I don’t get butterflies. I don’t have feelings towards the other man in the fight.”
It was a caveman’s cry of the wild. Experts and fans were not sure whether to laugh, cry or sneer.
The primitive taunt could however claim the record as the loudest sales pitch in boxing.
The clamor for Wilder to come over (to Great Britain) and fight Joshua has instantly become doubly urgent.
Joshua badly needs Wilder’s WBC heavyweight belt to complete and perfect a reign as undisputed world heavyweight boxing king.
Wilder, 40-0 (39 KOs), rudely refused an invitation to be at ringside in Cardiff for last Sunday’s Joshua-Parker fight.
There were speculations a Joshua-Wilder winner-take-all unification would be impossible to put up this year.
Wilder wanted to fight, but only in the United States; while Joshua insisted he would not be caught giving his rival a bonus by travelling overseas for the super championship.
Yesterday, Shelly Finkel, Wilder’s co-manager, came out of nowhere to claim the WBC heavyweight champion has relented. Wilder has reportedly agreed to fly to Great Britain and fight Joshua.
How good is Wilder?
Noted roving international boxing correspondent Anthony Andales of Philboxing.com: “That fight won’t sell in the US right now. But if it happens in UK, it will sell 100K souls, coz Joshua has been selling 70K, 80K in his last two fights. As for Wilder, he almost got KO’d by (Luis) Ortiz who is 39 years old. He was saved by the bell, then somehow going to the next round, they gave Wilder 30 secs, they checked him, asked the doctors to see if he’s OK. Never seen it before, but he was hurt.”
As expected, it’s a reprimand, but it should assure a sell-out in the projected meting with Joshua.
