Holding the belt hostage? If you had been following boxing for longer than a week you'd remember Anthony Joshua was the #2 contender for Wilder's WBC title, and instead of going after Wilder ... Joshua and Hearn decided to pay off the weak Charles Martin ... so they could get the IBF belt ... and GET REMOVED from the WBC ratings. And if you had been following boxing for longer than a week ... you'd know Joshua used to fight on Showtime ... and Showtime televised all his title fights in the U.S. to build up to a Wilder-Joshua fight ... then Joshua left Showtime. Wilder isn't HOLDING ANYTHING HOSTAGE. Joshua could've fought Wilder two years ago. Joshua RAN from the WBC ratings. Then Joshua RAN from Showtime. Wilder hasn't gone anywhere. He's still the WBC champ. Joshua is the one who headed for the hills.
You can't troll by stating facts. The only trolls on here are guys who conduct "street surveys" (when their own networks rate Wilder more famous) and the trolls who believe "street surveys" of five people and not stats. But, you knew that already.
You could've been eating that sandwich in 2016 if Joshua hadn't run for his life. The WBC wanted Wilder-Joshua. Even gave Joshua a high rating nobody thought he deserved at the time (and the WBC caught heat for it) because they were so eager. And Joshua and Hearn PUT THE BRAKES on that. But you've been sniffing Joshua's jock so hard you can't recall stuff that happened a year, or two or three ago.
And how many genuine, GENUINE mind you, offers has Wilder and his team offered AJ to fight him in the time that Wilder has been champion. I don't reckon that an email sent by Wilder from his personal account makes for a genuine, detailed offer to fight, do you? And answer me this, what should Wilder offer AJ, or alternatively, AJ offer Wilder to make the fight happen? Now please........JUST ANSWER THE ****ING QUESTION.....!!!!
Well Joshua has been earning 10x what Wilder has for a long time, put simply he didn't have as much room to grow as Wilder did considering he was fighting for a fraction of what Joshua was on much smaller scale shows. I could also say that a number of fighters careers have been 'on the rise' more than Joshua's as they have been growing more but unless they've reached a similar level to Joshua then it's pointless really. I don't see their trajectories crossing like you're suggesting. Also if Wilder ends up getting 50/50 split based on generating hype and the colour of his passport then good luck to him, the funny thing is I'm still not sure what split might even be enough to lure him in. I think he might do an Ottke on us and leave the money on the table so he can retire as 'champ' without really ever testing himself.
And how were the stats sourced? Can you validate any of them? Because I think the majority agree Wilder is pretty much unknown, and when a thread was made about the ESPN Announcement, it was ridiculed on this very forum. Random members of the public in Las Vegas, home to the mecca of boxing, is a great fool proof way to survey the popularity of a professional boxer. Don't get mad cuz UK survey skills better than yours. You haven't stated any facts at all. By your logic everything in asserted in Media is a FACT. How naive. I have stated facts. Don't hate.
If Deontay Wilder had been fighting the same network as Joshua, and Joshua was the champ, and Wilder was his #2 contender, and the network and the ratings org was chomping at the bit to match them ... And then Wilder signed to fight a paper champ, lost his rating by the org, and then bolted to another network ... and then offered Joshua a fraction of the purse for a unification ... Everyone would say Wilder was ducking. Except that's exactly what Joshua has done. Facts are facts.
And you've hit the nail right on the head. I don't actually beleive that any offer will be good enough for Deonkey' delusional Diva' Wilder. AJ may call Wilders bluff and just say FUKK it and end up taking it right up the shitter just to get Wilder to agree to a fight, but even then, I just don't think Wilder will take it.
I'm sure they walked up to five people on the street and asked them to name the 100 most famous athletes, and then they typed up the list. You're an idiot. They publish the list every year. Look up how they compile the results yourself. And I don't argue with trolls. I just ignore them. So unless you want to talk boxing, I'm going to put you on ignore.
I am pretty sure we were talking about boxing, it is a recorded conversation. And yeah it takes multiple content authors to compile content and articles for ESPN, I'm just saying the idiot that had Wilder listed as more popular than AJ must have been related to you? I'd love to know how they reached that conclusion because I am stumped. AJ is the biggest international figure in heavyweight boxing right now. And BTW you are insulting @Oakland Billy Smith because he stated "who actually even watches ESPN???" So work it out between yourselves, is ESPN credible... is it not? Hmmm
Anthony Joshua could've "called Wilder's bluff" years ago by not fighting Charles Martin and fighting Wilder instead. But he (Joshua) chose to fight Martin. You guys have been eating up everything Hearn has sold you. Take a step back. Look at the big picture. This fight could've been done easily in 2016. Why didn't it happen? Because Joshua went after another org's belt, lost his WBC rating, and then he left the network that was building up the Wilder-Joshua fight to the American audience. Joshua (and Hearn) didn't want Wilder. It's as simple as that. They put up every roadblock they could, just like Fury did when he had the immediate rematch with Wilder and RAN away from it, and now they're calling out Wilder from afar. They ran from Wilder. Wilder didn't go anywhere. He's still the WBC champ just like he was when they were his contenders, and the WBC was doing everything to make a fight between them and Wilder ... BUT THEY bolted.
Just because you write stuff, it isn't automatically a fact. That's not really how it works. The Facts, Joshua is more popular, has more belts, has the better resume, has more talent, achieved more at the Olympics, is more financially succesful. The list is quite long. These are facts.
Not according to ESPN's WORLD FAME LIST http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/26113613/espn-world-fame-100-2019 and DAZN USA, which offered Wilder more per fight than they offered Joshua. But don't let facts slow you down. Keep trying to convince yourself.
You're so lame mate. Hitching your banner to Wilder's bandwagon of excuses from the start of his career to now is cringe inducing. Wilder did fight a paper champ. He did so whilst said paper champ was ill and fought like an absolute ***** to boot terrified Stiverne might actually land something back on his way to a boring decision. He did this after a long career in which he managed to become mandatory by fighting noone of note or the completely shot to pieces by the time he fought them. Meanwhile Joshua destroyed a healthy paper champ before tearing through two the contender list to pick up two more belts making a complete mockery of Wilder's much longer to assemble resume in a fraction of the time. You're seriously deluded though and will find a way to try to denigrate anything Joshua has achieved whilst pumping up the far lesser accomplishments of Wilder all the while denying the very obvious flaws he has. Whyte, Povetkin, Takam, Parker, Klitschko, Breazeale, Martin, Molina, Miller wins simply shits all over Wilder's beating of Ortiz, Breazeale, Stiverne and obvious loss to a comebacking Fury.
Dont forget they also tried to work Whyte into position to delay the fight even furthur. Last year they fought Povetkin instead too.
