Last Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Deontay Wilder retained his WBC heavyweight title and unbeaten record after a vicious first-round knockout of Bermane Stiverne.
Stiverne had been the only fighter to ever push Wilder (39-0) the distance, but he was unable to last three minutes at the Barclays Center.
Wilder initially landed a huge left-right combination to the face of Stiverne, who was never able to recover from the blow. Stiverne tried – knocked down once more by another big right hand – and a final flurry from Wilder with seconds remaining in the round ended the bout.
The American is now 39-0 with 38 knockouts, and he wants to face WBA, IBF and IBO champion Anthony Joshua (20-0) next.
But Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn, is more interested in matching Dillian Whyte against Wilder. Should Wilder win that contest, then Hearn would consider making the unification with Joshua. Hearn has targeted a February date in London for Wilder vs. Whyte.
Wilder sees no reason for that fight with Whyte to take place. Whyte's sole defeat was a knockout loss to Joshua two years ago. Wilder is ready to fight Joshua as soon as possible.
Joshua, who two weeks ago retained his titles with a TKO victory over Carlos Takam, is possibly going to return to the ring on a date in March with WBO champion Joseph Parker as one of the targets being pursued.
“When you look at Dillian Whyte, why do we have to go through a lower standard of fighter?” Wilder told The Breakfast Show.
“Even when you look at some of the opposition that I have fought in the past what’s the difference between him and those opposition? Dillian Whyte is just a distraction between me and Joshua and everybody knows it. For that reason I am not interested in it. The only way we would be interested in it is if Joshua comes with it.”