Promoter Eddie Hearn or Anthony Joshua are being blamed for the lack of a Deontay Wilder fight in 2023.
Carl Froch, who fought under Hearn during his breakout from obscurity, has stated Hearn is the one who would have put a stop to the fight happening now.
Wilder and Joshua will fight separate opponents on December 23 in Saudi Arabia. It’s an unfathomable decision when Wilder vs Joshua is readily available.
However, Froch says Hearn is keen to rebuild Joshua, who hasn’t looked himself since being obliterated by Andy Ruiz Jr. in 2019.
Joshua will now face ex-Tyson Fury opponent Otto Wallin. “The Cobra” says AJ should have looked at other heavyweights on the bill, like Filip Hrgovic.
Deontay Wilder fight pulled
“Plenty of names there could jump in with Anthony Joshua and give us a more exciting fight than Otto Wallin,” Froch told talkSPORT.
“It’s frustrating, and it’s annoying. My first feeling is I’m disappointed with the AJ vs Wilder fight being off, and then it’s hard to see past that.
“It’s more like stalling tactics and delaying what we want as boxing fans. I put that blame totally on Eddie Hearn or Anthony Joshua.
“Because if AJ wanted to fight Wilder, he’d be confident enough to make a statement. He would fight someone like Wilder and do what Tyson Fury had done twice. What a statement that would be.
“For me, that’s a mega fight, Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder, and that’s been pulled.
“We’ve had the rug pulled out from under our feet, the fans, because we want to see these fights, and they’re not happening and are all getting paid mega money out in Saudi.”
Wilder vs Parker
Joseph Parker, the out-of-form ex-world champion, will be in the opposite corner to Wilder a day before Christmas Eve. It’s not a mouth-watering prospect.
There’s a big chance either Joshua or Wilder will lose their respective fights. Joshua is taking baby steps back to the top after two losses against Oleksandr Usyk.
Meanwhile, Wilder has had two minutes of professional boxing in two years. At 38, Wilder may well have aged overnight himself.
Somebody somewhere is missing a trick in not putting on Wilder vs Joshua now. If you ask most fans and media what they’d rather see, 99.9 percent would likely say Wilder vs Joshua on December 23.
That would lead ideally into Fury vs Usyk in February, with the winner at ringside. Wilder and Joshua could then rematch on the same night as the Fury vs Usyk rematch, and the winners could face off in 2025.
It’s not a complicated plan to figure out.
