DEONTAY WILDER BELIEVES he has “done everything” to arrange a fight with Anthony Joshua, leading him to doubt whether the Briton’s camp were ever really interested in pitting AJ against The Bronze Bomber in the first place.
WBC champion Wilder and Joshua have long seemed destined to meet in a heavyweight unification bout, but the two sides have struggled to negotiate a deal.
While both camps have blamed one another for the failure to agree terms, Wilder is not convinced that Joshua was motivated to see a positive outcome to the talks.
“Their plan was never to fight me,” the undefeated American told Showtime. “It was only to promote Joshua, to make it seem like something that it wasn’t.
“I had the opportunity [to knock Joshua out]. But obviously he doesn’t want to be the guy to prove himself with me.
If [the fight] comes about, it’s going to be 50/50 straight across. I’m not going to accept flat fees, none of that. We’re done with that and I can smile and say we’re done with that. I have done everything.
Wilder insists he would have no problem coming to England for the lucrative fight, but he does not believe Joshua would agree on any terms.
Instead, Joshua is set to take on Alexander Povetkin next after the WBA ordered their champion to sign a deal to face his mandatory challenger.
“You don’t want to come here? I’ll go to your back yard and whoop your ass, no problem,” Wilder said.
But the $50million [offer made to Joshua] was for America. We’re not going to cater to them with the money and with going to their country. Even if we had done that, it would have been the same thing. They never would have taken it.
He also challenged the idea that Joshua – who also holds the IBF and WBO belts – is the biggest fight out there for him, identifying Tyson Fury as an interesting option.
Former champion Fury has only just returned to action; he continues his comeback on August 18 in Belfast, albeit the identity of his next opponent is yet to be announced.
“We still have Fury, that would be a big one for both of us,” Wilder said. “In my eyes, he’s still a champion because he hasn’t been beaten. That’s still a big one out there.”
- Omni
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