EDITOR’S LETTER
Will Joshua and Wilder get it on?
THE good news: Anthony Joshua wants to fight Deontay Wilder and Deontay Wilder wants to fight Anthony Joshua. That much is a given. The bad news: The longer the current ‘negotiations’ take, the less likely we are to see the fight at this juncture.
In a nutshell: Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn made an offer to Wilder of $12.5m; feeling short-changed, Wilder’s team, seemingly led for the time being by Shelley Finkel, responded by declaring their promise of a $50m purse to Joshua; Hearn, undoubtedly surprised by such a hefty prize fund, demanded to know more; then Finkel cancelled a meeting in New York last week, saying that it would be ‘counter-productive’. At the time of writing (Tuesday, May 1, 4pm-ish) Hearn needs answers to “a dozen very important questions” before progress occurs as the fighters and boxing fans the world over would like.
Unfortunately, though, in 2018, such wants and desires are only the start of a long and winding road. Gone are the days when two fighters deciding they’d like to have a scrap is all that’s required to let fisticuffs commence. Today, particularly at the top of the sport, there’s lots, possibly too many, egos to keep happy.
One can’t help but think current negotiations were doomed the moment this whole saga went so incredibly public. With offers of multi-million dollar purses flying around, anyone who might have potentially been involved would have had their ears pricked. Not only the boxers, but also promoters, managers, sponsors, TV bosses, governing bodies, heads of potential venues, ticket-sellers and so on and so on. Other issues, like who enters the ring first, who appears on the lefthand side of the poster, rematch clauses and the like, will also cause headaches. In turn, broadcasting every squabble is unlikely to ease the pain.
It’s difficult to remember the last time a public, drawn-out process like this ended in a fight. Once the talks emerge from behind closed doors, and the volume increases to shouting levels, civilised discussion becomes impossible. By then, it’s both a last-ditch attempt to make the showdown and an effort from the teams to cover themselves from blame for not getting it over the line. In the end, as we can all now see, only utter chaos remains.
Through it all, fall-back plans will continue privately. One from Jarrell Miller, Dillian Whyte or Alexander Povetkin is likely waiting to sign his name on the dotted line of a Joshua fight contract, while Dominic Breazeale would appear to be in place for Wilder.
On a positive note, what recent boxing history does tell us – see Gennady Golovkin versus Canelo Alvarez and Joshua versus Wladimir Klitschko – is that all this current posturing between the teams of Joshua and Wilder should make the real negotiations, which will occur without the current hysteria, far smoother.
It’s imperative that the fight happens sooner rather than later, though. Everyone knows this, of course. The scope for this rivalry is huge, and the heavyweight division deserves better than for it to not be delivered. The danger, however, is that Joshua or Wilder – neither invincible – will lose in the interim. Should that occur, the teams of the fighters will only have themselves to blame.
l ANOTHER man who could suddenly gatecrash the Joshua-wilder party is David Haye, who this weekend enters a rematch with Tony Bellew with his career on the line. A convincing win for the ageing “Hayemaker” would see a potential Joshua showdown become hugely appealing to the public at large, but considering Haye’s age and history of injury problems, it defies logic to suggest he can again be the fighter he once was.
There’s plenty to read on that contest elsewhere in this issue, but whatever happens, we should be thankful to Haye for introducing us to Adam Moralee, his latest manager/lawyer/spokesperson, who unleashed absolute comedy gold at Monday night’s press conference in Liverpool. Somehow managing to fuse The Inbetweeners with David Brent s**t, Moralee, thanks to his “History Repeating” speech, is destined for cult hero status.