Flaherty, Tigers finalize $14M, 1-year contract Wilder, Joshua jostle for position as heavyweight scene simmers

DETROIT – Right-hander Jack Flaherty and the Detroit Tigers have finalized a $14 million, one-year contract in a deal that allows the 28-year-old righthander to earn an additional $1 million in performances bonuses with a franchise that has invested a lot in improving next season. “There’s a lot of belief in this team,” Flaherty said Wednesday. “That’s one of the things that excited me about the opportunity.”

Detroit finished second in the AL Central at 78-84 this year, its seventh straight losing season, and recently signed manager A.J. Hinch to what the team called a long-term contract extension.

Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua were once the main characters in heavyweight boxing’s soap opera. Now they are extras. While Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk continue prepping for a Feb. 17 unification bout in Saudi Arabia that will determine the division’s first undisputed champ this century, Wilder and Joshua are in the kingdom this weekend and fighting simply to stay relevant.

Wilder, the WBC champion from 2015-20, was dethroned by Fury in February 2020 and has fought only twice since. What kind of shape will the 38year-old American be in when he takes on Joseph Parker, the WBO champion from 2016-18?

After that comes the main event on what has been labeled the “Day of Reckoning” as Joshua, the former WBA, IBF and WBO titleholder, fights Otto Wallin, a New York-based journeyman. Joshua has underwhelming wins over Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius on his record since back-to-back defeats to Usyk that left his career at a crossroads.

Whether Wilder and Joshua have the belief after their damaging losses to become heavyweight champ again is open to question. They are most likely to fight each other next – provided they both win in Jeddah – and the winner of what would be a big-money bout would, in theory, be in position to challenge for a world title.