EDITOR’S LETTER
Don’t let Joshua-wilder become this era’s Mayweather-pacquiao
Mayweather-pacquiao version two?
YOU must remember the Floyd Mayweather-manny Pacquiao saga? If you don’t, you’re either new to this boxing lark or you’re somewhere between newborn and four years old. No matter, if you don’t remember it, for whatever reason, lucky you.
It went a little something like this: Entire world wanted to see Mayweather and Pacquiao fight because they were brilliant and in the same weight class but they couldn’t agree terms so they fought other people instead. This lasted for around six or seven years – yep, it was the saga that kept on giving – and every single time Mayweather or Pacquiao battled opponents that were not Mayweather or Pacquiao they were asked, over and over and over and over again, why they were not fighting Mayweather or Pacquiao. As enjoyable as the respective careers of those two were, their failure to fight each other, at least at the right time, was something of a buzz kill. Not only that, it really hurt what should have been a golden era.
The Anthony Joshua-deontay Wilder saga is just getting going: Entire world want to see them fight but they’ve failed to agree terms – over and over and over again already – so Joshua will instead fight Alexander Povetkin at Wembley Stadium on September 22 in what could turn out to be the biggest event in British boxing history. It will likely break records in a similar way to how Mayweather and Pacquiao regularly broke records on the strength of one name alone. Povetkin is a highly dangerous opponent, a serial drugs cheat whom the sanctioning bodies should not be ranking, frankly, but no pushover by any means. Arguably the best non-wilder option. A solid test. A little like Antonio Margarito was a solid opponent for Pacquiao, and Juan Manuel Marquez was a solid opponent for Mayweather. Solid, but not the one.
So even though the Joshua-wilder saga is only just beginning, as boxing fans, we’re getting nervous already. We shouldn’t panic yet, but we do – a little bit – because we’ve seen it all before. We can still remember what it felt like to see Pacquiao dominate Margarito, be impressed, but predominantly yearn for him to face the Mayweather that trounced Marquez instead. So here we are again, albeit back at the start of what plenty fear could be another long and winding road.
After all, Joshua has proved that he can fight anybody – probably even you or I – and he will sell out stadiums. So does he really need Wilder? Because Mayweather and Pacquaio didn’t need each other to become rich beyond their wildest dreams long before their remnants eventually hooked up in 2015.
The concern regarding Joshua-wilder will grow and grow until the moment, if it comes, the showdown is signed. Joshua’s recent trip to America saw Jarrell Miller make a name for himself by getting in the Englishman’s face and doing his best to promote a bout with the heavyweight champion the modern way – by shouting a lot and making a nuisance of himself. Suddenly, Joshua vs Miller is marketable and an easy fight to make. Far easier than Wilder, that’s for sure. Add to this Dillian Whyte potentially looking wonderful beating Joseph Parker and soon Joshua could have his 2019 opponents sorted: Whyte in April, Miller later in the year.
“I’d be a fool if I didn’t look at the landscape,” Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn told Boxing News (see page nine). “If Whyte looks great against Parker, he’s an absolute frontrunner if Wilder doesn’t accept the fight. Miller, if he wins in October, is also in the mix but they’re not even close to what we want. So don’t be fooled by people saying, ‘Hearn is talking up Joshua-whyte’. Of course I am because it’s a potential fight down the road, but that sole focus, right now, is Povetkin [in September] and Wilder [in April]. We’ve made one, and next we’ll hopefully make the Wilder fight. Wilder will come around, [because] he has nowhere else to go.”
But as Mayweather proved and Pacquiao proved, there is always somewhere else to go. By the time they found each other it was too late. Yes, we all remember the Mayweather-pacquiao saga. For now, for our own sanity, we must have faith that Joshua and Wilder and all involved remember it too.
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