Anthony Joshua has avoided a fight with Deontay Wilder for the second time in his career despite months of promises the fight would happen.
According to Wilder’s trainer, Malik Scott, Joshua has no interest in signing a fight after being linked to a battle in Saudi Arabia, the UK, or Las Vegas.
Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, has consistently been in the press in 2023, stating the fight was either agreed, almost done, or would be confirmed next week.
The continued mentioning of Wilder in the media now seems to be a clear name-drop with no intention of coming to fruition, says Scott.
Deontay Wilder avoided
Speaking to FightHype.com, Scott outlined that Joshua will never sign to battle Wilder due to his fear of the inevitable.
“AJ is cool if he goes his whole career without fighting Deontay,” Scott told FightHype. “He doesn’t really mind it [if he never fights Wilder].
“To me, AJ doesn’t campaign about the fight enough. He doesn’t really want it. We all know why. Because stylistically, he’s picture perfect to be knocked out by Deontay.”
In 2018, World Boxing News extensively covered the negotiations and had significant access to Wilder’s representatives. They wanted the fight done by any means necessary.
Despite breaking their backs to bend over for Joshua and Hearn, the fight collapsed when the Briton walked away to a mandatory he could have avoided.
Wilder vs Joshua
Wilder’s co-manager, Shelly Finkel, was disappointed at the time. However, his gripes sound familiar to those five years later.
“The fact is they didn’t want this fight,” Finkel exclusively told World Boxing News.
“He asked for 50 million dollars, never thinking we’d come up with it. When we came up with it, he said,’ I don’t want to fight in the United States; I’ll take it for less in the UK.’
“He sent us a bull*** offer, thinking we’d never take it. We took it.
“Then they said, ‘What do we do now?’ Let’s send them a contract. However, the contract doesn’t have when the fight will be or where it will be.
I wrote to him saying I’m sending back the contract. And he knows the contract would have been signed.
“That’s why today, and all of a sudden, the WBA has turned around and given 24 hours [for Joshua to fight Alexander Povetkin].
AJ eventually did sign to face Povetkin a matter of hours after the Wilder talks broke down. Finkel later confirmed that the WBA would have accepted an exception if Joshua wanted the Wilder fight.
The fans miss out on seeing another heavyweight collision to settle long-term beef. Wilder will have to reconsider his options after wasting another significant portion of his career.
