By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Lou DiBella realizes it’s highly unlikely that Anthony Joshua and Deontay Willder will fight next.
The man who promotes Wilder’s fights just can’t help but wonder why.
“Why can’t it happen next?,” DiBella asked during a post-fight press conference early Sunday morning. “They literally fought one week apart. Neither one of them is hurt. They’re exactly on the same schedule.”
Wilder (39-0, 38 KOs) knocked out Haiti’s Bermane Stiverne (25-3-1, 21 KOs) in the first round of their rematch Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. A week earlier, Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs) stopped Cameroon’s Carlos Takam (35-4-1, 27 KOs) in the 10th round at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
Nevertheless, the answer to DiBella’s initial question is pretty simple.
“Anthony Joshua doesn’t wanna fight this man right now,” said DiBella, who promoted Saturday’s card. When a reporter reminded DiBella that Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, probably is the one who wants to put off a fight with Wilder for as long as possible, DiBella agreed.
“OK, I’ll give you that,” DiBella said. “Eddie Hearn doesn’t want Anthony Joshua to fight this man right now.”
That’s an understandable blueprint when you have an undefeated champion capable of selling out soccer stadiums against less threatening opposition. Hearn has said Joshua could make a mandatory defense of his WBA title against an undetermined opponent and, if he wins, face WBO champion Joseph Parker (24-0, 18 KOs) in a partial title unification fight before considering facing Wilder late in 2018.
Wilder, meanwhile, could be left to make mundane optional defenses of his WBC title, starting with Dominic Breazeale (19-1, 17 KOs).
Those types of fights don’t inspire Wilder, but he’ll have little choice if Parker and Joshua won’t fight him. The Tuscaloosa, Alabama, native just hopes pressure, particularly from British consumers who’ve packed London’s Wembley Stadium and Cardiff’s Principality Stadium for Joshua’s last two fights, make Joshua embrace their fight sooner than expected.
“Oh, most definitely,” Wilder said. “They should do them like they did Jesus. They should throw lettuce and spit on ‘em. It’s about that time. That’s what the world wanna see. I think it’s a lot of fans in the UK wanna see it. But I think it’s a lot of fans that don’t wanna see it because they know what I bring. They know what I’m capable of doing. And, you know, they’ve got a great thing going over there. So, you know, they want to continue doing what they’re doing as long as they can.
“But the thing about it is, it all has to come to an end at some point in time. He can only fight so many people. He shares the same division as I. And as you can see, it’s a very small division. So our paths must cross at some point in time. And I’m saying, why wait? Let’s make it now. Why wait? Who else can he fight? I know they’ve got a lot of England guys, just like I’ve got a lot of American guys. But really, people wanna see the best fight the best. I wanna prove that I’m the best, so I wanna fight the best. So if Anthony’s the best, if Parker’s the best, put ‘em up to the test.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
