By Keith Idec
Deontay Wilder isn’t impressed with Anthony Joshua’s resume.
Joshua has knocked out each of his 17 professional opponents, won the IBF heavyweight title in just his 16th bout and is scheduled to defend it for the second time Saturday against Eric Molina in Manchester, England. But Wilder, the unbeaten WBC heavyweight champion, doesn’t think the 2012 Olympic gold medalist from England has done enough to justify all the hype he has generated in his homeland.
“When people say somebody’s better than me or whatever, that’s somebody’s opinion,” Wilder told BoxingScene.com. “But to me, in my opinion, Joshua has only fought D-level opposition. If Joshua was an American, he wouldn’t get praised like he do in England.
“Due to the fact that he’s from England and boxing is their second-nature sport, that’s why he gets so much praise from the people and from the fans. And I love it for him. I wish it was like that in America. But Joshua is not that known in America. And if he came to America and started his career, it definitely wouldn’t be the same.”
The 6-foot-7, 225-pound Wilder’s ascension to boxing stardom in the United States was a much more painstaking process once he turned pro. Compared to Joshua, Wilder was brought along slowly after winning a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Along the way, Wilder knocked out Molina (25-3, 19 KOs), of Weslaco, Texas, in the ninth round of their June 2015 fight in Birmingham, Alabama. The 31-year-old Wilder (37-0, 36 KOs) wants to face Joshua, 27, eventually in what would be a high-profile heavyweight title unification fight.
For now, Wilder will provide color commentary for Showtime’s live 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT telecast of the Joshua-Molina fight. Wilder will call the fight off a television monitor from Los Angeles, where Showtime will televise a “Showtime Championship Boxing” doubleheader later Saturday night from USC’s Galen Center.
That telecast will begin at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT with a 12-round IBF junior middleweight championship match that’ll send title-holder Jermall Charlo (24-0, 18 KOs), of Houston, against Philadelphia’s Julian Williams (22-0-1, 14 KOs, 1 NC). In the main event, Argentina’s Jesus Cuellar (28-1, 21 KOs) will defend his WBA world featherweight title against former three-division champion Abner Mares (29-2-1, 15 KOs), of Downey, California.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.