Joshua waiting to hear from Wilder
ANTHONY JOSHUA believes Deontay Wilder’s silence could point to ‘a masterplan’ in the works following his defeat at the hands of Tyson Fury.
Wilder, one of the most outspoken fighters in the heavyweight division, has been incredibly quiet since losing his WBC heavyweight belt in his rematch with Fury back in February.
Fury has already revealed a trilogy fight will no longer happen this year and he is seeking a new opponent to face in the coming months.
But Joshua feels Wilder could ‘ be in the lab’ working out his next move and assessing everything that went wrong in that stoppage defeat by Fury.
‘Either he’s putting together a masterplan - he’s in a lab right now, with his science glasses on, studying Fury’s every move,’ Joshua told Sky Sports.
‘Either he’s doing that, or he’s sitting at the edge of that lake, with his head in his hands and thinking, “What’s going on?”
‘One minute you’re on top of the world, and the next minute you’re not. That’s the name of the game we’re in.’
Wilder did enact his rematch clause after defeat in February but delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic has seen a trilogy bout delayed.
Fury’s camp insist the rematch clause expired this month and their attention is now turning elsewhere in the heavyweight division.
But Wilder’s co-promoter Shelley Finkel has gone on record that the American does still want the fight.
‘Deontay and I would like to have the next fight, as planned, against Fury,’ Finkel told ESPN. ‘We’ll fight him any date, any place.’ For Joshua, who suffered his first professional loss to Andy Ruiz Jnr last year before exacting revenge later that year, he is fascinated to hear Wilder’s version of events as to where it all went wrong.
‘I can’t wait for him to address the reason why the fight isn’t going to happen at the end of the year,’ he added. ‘What happened in the first fight? Why he lost.
‘Was it the costume, was it the glove situation? It would be really good to hear the reasons as to why and even better, I hope he does come back, because he’s a great asset to the heavyweight division, and like the Dillian [Whyte] situation, I would like to understand how he found the strength to pull himself up.’
Joshua now has a date to work towards for his rearranged end-of-year fight against Kubrat Pulev.
The IBF, WBA and WBO world title holder will fight behind closed doors at The O2 arena on December 12, though promoter Eddie Hearn is still exploring options of a limited crowd in the event that Covid regulations allow. - Daily Mail.