Joshua’s consistent ducking of Wilder and the Wilder-Whyte WBC saga explained

Eddie Hearn in April 2018:

"Wilder is a massive high risk fight and it’s the biggest fight in British boxing. Yes, Joshua wants greatness, but it is also a business. I wouldn’t expect you to take a job that was much harder and much more risk for a similar kind of money. You would just keep working on the easy stuff. This is a massive job - the biggest job out there - but what’s the money? It’s just a little bit more than you’re on at the moment. He is not worth 60/40 - nowhere near. I’m sorry but that’s the reality. Maybe Josh will pay over time, but I don’t think he should. This is the biggest fight of his career and maybe the biggest fight of his career forever.”

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/box...e-Hearn-Deontay-Wilder-Boxing-news-Fight-Hype

“Joshua would be a lot easier to hit than Fury but I also think Joshua would take Wilder off his feet and knock him spark out. If Josh fights Tyson it's going to be the most amazing event but it's also going to be quite an awkward night. If he fights Wilder it's going to be X-rated because someone's head is getting taken off. We want Wilder. That's the difference. I think if it was man on man and there were no belts, nothing, I think Joshua would probably prefer Fury." - Eddie Hearn, December 2018

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/b...T-boxing-Joshua-vs-Wilder-goes-12-rounds.html

January 2020:

"'Everything takes explanation, I don’t understand why it should be a 50/50 split.

‘It was the biggest upset when I got beat, it should be the biggest comeback when I came back. I want it all, I want 70 per cent." - Anthony Joshua

https://www.asbnews.ng/2020/01/25/a...-offer-to-face-winner-of-wilder-fury-rematch/

Joshua was pricing himself out of fights with Fury and Wilder, demanding a 70-30 split against the winner of their rematch despite being 1-1 in his last two fights. This is despite Wlad giving Ibragimov and Haye 50-50 splits in order to unify with them.

In contrast to Joshua, Wilder was insistent on 50-50:

"It is a great fight, it is one of the biggest fights in the world and everyone wants it. (But) it will be 50-50 or else we don’t see a fight." - Deontay Wilder, December 2017

https://www.tntsports.co.uk/boxing/...insists-deontay-wilder_sto6432985/story.shtml

Barry Hearn in May 2018:

"The Deontay Wilder fight, if I was Anthony Joshua, I’d be leaving that for a little while."

https://metro.co.uk/2018/05/08/barry-hearn-urges-anthony-joshua-reject-deontay-wilder-fight-7530743/

Barry Hearn in December 2018:

"Wow! Hats off to Tyson Fury - great performance. So pleased AJ didn’t accept 50 million to get robbed by us judges!"

https://www.givemesport.com/1424742...thony-joshua-rejecting-deontay-wilders-offer/

A much more confident pre-Ruiz Joshua on why he ducked Wilder, in his own words:

"I’ve got a career I need to map it out, I’m going to take fights at the right time for me and if it’s next year (2018) or the year after (2019) or the year after (2020) when I fight him (Wilder) I’ll be in a position to beat him. I started boxing 2008, Wilder turned pro 2009, so he’s been a pro one year longer than my whole career. So you can see why they’re rushing him for certain reasons and you can see why I’m taking my time for certain reasons. As I say the fighter on my shoulder says let’s rock and roll, the coach on my shoulder says ‘you know what Josh, you need to just work on a few more things before you take a fight like that. Because when it’s all said and done, all that matters is that win, not the fact that people say ‘he didn’t fight him here and he didn’t fight him there’. - Anthony Joshua, 2017

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/4620257/anthony-joshua-vs-kubrat-pulev-deontay-wilder-wembley/

"I always think about that one punch, no one can beat me skill-for-skill, I don’t think. But it’s that one punch: I’d hate for that to be the reason why I lose. One punch. And that’s what they’re all looking at. Every fight is scary. You don’t want to lose everything you’ve got – especially this one – this was a banana-skin fight because of what’s to come. As with the Parker fight, I didn’t want to take any risks." - Anthony Joshua, 2018

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/sep/23/anthony-joshua-admits-fears-one-punch

“If I have another one of these (life and death) fights, I’m done with boxing. I should be good enough that I don’t have to go through hell and back to win a fight. It should be a good competition, but I shouldn’t have to go through one of those fights to win.” - Joshua to McCracken post-Wlad

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/boxing/anthony-joshuas-pre-fight-comments-16247010

"That's why I don't want to travel to America, not just for the sake of it, because it limits a lot of people from being able to come and watch me." - Anthony Joshua, 2018

https://www.espn.co.uk/boxing/story...ed-states-eyes-deontay-wilder-wembley-stadium

"British fighters have historically lost to American fighters" - Anthony Joshua, 2023

Interviewer: “Do you want to fight Wilder next?”

Joshua: “Argh my back! Is there a doctor in here my back’s gone.”

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"(New Matchroom signing) Luis Ortiz against Joshua could be a huge fight for 2017 and we have no problem in making that fight if it is the right move. People get the impression that AJ is mollycoddled, but they couldn't be more wrong. Look at the Charles Martin fight, everyone looks back and says it was an easy fight, but at the time they were saying it was a hard fight that was coming too early. If the reward is there to take the risk against Ortiz, who is very dangerous, and the fight is big enough, then yes, let's do it.” - Eddie Hearn, 2016

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...oxing-wladimir-klitschko-boxing-a7408346.html

I suppose the likes of Molina and Takam were more credible opponents.

Hearn/Matchroom benefited from the comical narrative that Wilder was ducking Whyte (who could have left Matchroom to join PBC as Ortiz did, as Wilder advocated, if he were actually desperate for the Wilder fight, rather than wanting to be perceived as a boogeyman and a hard luck case by the gullible), along with pushing Whyte down the WBC route, with Matchroom offering him relatively short money for a Joshua rematch in 2019.

1. The narrative diverted attention away from a potential fight between Joshua and Wilder, which would have been an extremely dangerous fight for Joshua by his and Hearn's own admission

2. It served to further elevate Joshua: if Wilder is supposedly afraid to fight Joshua-victim Whyte then Whyte-conqueror Joshua must be another level above on top of that and Wilder must be terrified of him

3. Dishonestly accusing Wilder of ducking Whyte (and by extension, Joshua) had the effect of damaging Wilder’s reputation, which could increase mental pressure on him and make him less focused

4. If Matchroom prioritised Whyte for a fight with Wilder then Wilder would get older and accumulate wear before any hypothetical Joshua fight could take place (taking the edge off Wilder’s speed and explosiveness, as well as softening him up), Joshua being 4 years younger and less experienced than Wilder

5. In the unlikely event that Whyte beat Wilder over one or two fights (which themselves would be lucrative for Matchroom, squeezing more juice out of Wilder than just pushing Joshua forward to fight him), Whyte could then unify with Joshua in an “all British, all Matchroom undisputed fight”, reducing risk for Joshua against a significantly less threatening, previously beaten opponent and keeping all of the revenue in-house whatever the outcome. If Wilder KO’d Whyte as was more likely then that would further build the Joshua fight, meaning a bigger potential cash out if worst came to worst

6. Whyte could serve as a measuring stick: if he gives Wilder serious problems then perhaps Hearn tries to make Joshua-Wilder sooner. If Whyte gets blown out, delay the fight as much as possible

Whyte was essentially Joshua’s bodyguard in Hearn’s view; this is a quote immediately after Povetkin brutally KO’d Price after being dropped himself:

“He (Povetkin) will be mandatory for Anthony Joshua but I have another heavyweight (Whyte) who wants to fight Alexander Povetkin in June, if he wants it.” - Eddie Hearn, 2018

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/5948...povetkin-after-russian-knockouts-david-price/

Joshua: “I’d rather fight for a world title than fight Wilder”

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This implies that if losing to Wilder would have lost Joshua a world title, he wouldn’t have fought him as holding a world title is more importing than fighting Wilder.

Hearn: “I hope Wilder loses to Parker”

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Because the Wilder mega payday isn’t worth Joshua’s career potentially being brutally ended.

 

"got better fight with Joshua on a table..."

Wilder was saying anything to appeal to Fury. The plan was to KO Fury and then demand 50-50 with Joshua for a much bigger bag.

"He avoid him with WBC permission."

WBC/PBC had no interest in giving Hearn/Matchroom a helping hand. Whyte's crap compared to Wilder, as if he'd be afraid of fighting him. Whyte is a proven sh*thouse too, just look at the Wallin duck.

 

"The Joshua that KO’d Klitschko was on top of the boxing world and in his own head was unstoppable, probably still is."

LMAO

This is what Joshua said immediately after that fight:

“If I have another one of these fights, I’m done with boxing. I should be good enough that I don’t have to go through hell and back to win a fight. It should be a good competition, but I shouldn’t have to go through one of those fights to win.” - Joshua to McCracken post-fight

Joshua ducked three of the five biggest threats of his reign and still got beat three times.

 

"Why would you have quoted something from 2017?

An awful lot has happened to both fighters since then."

Because it's great evidence, especially as Joshua was much more confident prior to losing once, twice and three times.

Joshua admits he fears losing to "that one punch". Hearn/Joshua wanted a path to undisputed that didn't involve the GOAT right hand.

Even if we still see the fight it will probably be when Wilder is 39, just like Povetkin, Pulev and Helenius, or 41 like Wlad. Post-two Fury beatdowns and at least another 3 years of aging on top of the last one.

Keep lying to me and yourself if you like.

 

"You’ve already said in your previous post that Wilder’s plan was to KO Fury and then fight Wilder."

Wilder's plan was to fight Wilder. Perfect. And that proves that Joshua didn't duck Wilder...

"It didn’t happen though did it."

Plans don't always work out do they? You are dumb, a timewaster and are not worth any further responses from me.

 

"He got offer for 100 millions from DAZN"

So you're saying that Wilder is such a coward that he avoided Joshua for what is for all intents and purposes an unlimited amount of money...

Many boxing fans will believe any lie Eddie Hearn feeds to them apparently.

"I won't even mention the difference in the class of opponents of both men because it's a gulf."

It is: Fury x3 is much better than Joshua's opposition. Undefeated Ortiz would have probably beat Joshua too, hence that duck.

"Same as Povetkin"

Team Wilder did duck Povetkin in 2015/2016, I don't contest that. But Wilder stepped up in 2018 and Povetkin isn't Whyte, hence Povetkin KO'd Whyte when Povetkin was about 4 years removed from a career best performance.

"Wilder great brave warrior and great champion"

You'd have to be a totally biased moron to deny that Wilder is a warrior.

Is he a great champion? It's arguable that he is. But even if he isn't his heavyweight record is among the best of the last 20 years and his quality of opposition as WBC champion was far better than Vitali's, who a large percentage claim is an ATG.