By Keith Idec
Lou DiBella can’t understand Eddie Hearn’s rationale.
DiBella, who promotes Deontay Wilder’s fights, has taken exception to Hearn questioning Wilder’s decision to take what Anthony Joshua’s promoter deemed “a very high-risk fight” against Luis Ortiz “for a very small amount of money.” Hearn assessed the risk related to Wilder opposing Ortiz – compared to boxing one of Hearn’s heavyweight contenders, Dillian Whyte, for more money – in an interview with BoxingScene.com recently (https://www.boxingscene.com/hearn-wilder-taking-big-risk-very-small-amount-money--125686).
“First of all, Eddie should be worried about promoting his own fighter,” DiBella told BoxingScene.com. “And I find it amazing that he’s getting into risk-reward analysis for Deontay. I didn’t twist Deontay’s arm to fight Ortiz. And we all know Eddie would never have put his guy [Joshua] in with Ortiz. He proved that when his guy won the title by taking the easiest possible route [against Charles Martin], and when his guy had his definitive fight against [Wladimir] Klitschko after Tyson Fury had already beaten Klitschko from pillar to post.”
Wilder wants nothing more than to face Joshua in the most appealing fight the heavyweight division can offer.
The unbeaten WBC champion settled for defending his title against Ortiz once Hearn and Joshua made it clear Wilder wouldn’t be considered in the immediate future. Showtime will televise the scheduled 12-round bout between Wilder (39-0, 38 KOs), of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and the Cuban-born Ortiz (28-0, 24 KOs, 2 NC) as the main event of a doubleheader Saturday night from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
England’s Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs), the United Kingdom’s most popular and highest-paid boxer, is set to battle New Zealand’s Joseph Parker (24-0, 18 KOs), the WBO champ, in a title unification match March 31 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
Joshua reportedly will earn an approximate $18 million guarantee for fighting Parker. Wilder will make seven figures for facing Ortiz, but considerably less than Joshua will make four weeks later.
“For Eddie Hearn to be critical because Deontay Wilder’s taking a very high-risk fight, without breaking the bank, I don’t think that’s what fans wanna hear,” DiBella said. “I don’t. I think what the fans want is for a fighter to go out there and take the best fight he can make, the most difficult fight he can make. The reason Deontay Wilder elected to fight Luis Ortiz is because that’s how driven he is to wanna prove that he’s the best, that he’s the gold standard at heavyweight, that he’s the baddest man on the planet. He’s gonna get paid based on the revenue that’s actually there. That’s the way it works.
“In this business, all the criticism I read from the fans, all the criticisms I read, generally, from the pundits, is that fighters aren’t going out there and making the fights happen against their best possible opposition. Here, Deontay Wilder identified the most difficult guy he could possibly fight. Right now, I wouldn’t say Ortiz is at the top of his popularity. People aren’t sitting there screaming that Deontay has to fight him. But Deontay wanted to fight him and prove that he’s the best heavyweight in the world. If Eddie wants to criticize, go ahead, Eddie.”
DiBella doesn’t dispute Joshua’s superstar status in the United Kingdom, nor does he begrudge Hearn for making astute business decisions to capitalize on the IBF/IBO/WBA champion’s earning power. The outspoken promoter just takes exception to questioning Wilder when Hearn and Joshua aren’t exactly eager to fight their American antagonist.
“I’m not faulting Eddie for being a strategic guy,” DiBella said. “He overpaid to get Charles Martin. And then he got Klitschko coming off a drubbing by Tyson Fury. And now he’s getting a unification fight against a guy who I have no disrespect for. I respect Joseph Parker, but Joseph Parker is not on the same risk level as Luis Ortiz. He can’t knock someone out with a counter left hand. He wasn’t the amateur superstar that Ortiz was. And he can’t punch like Ortiz.
“But you know what? Go out there and promote your fight. You have a very popular fighter. God bless you. But you’re sitting there, trying to criticize a champion for fighting the toughest fight he possibly could fight, for the money that’s actually there. I think he’s showing himself to be less than confident about his own fighter’s ability.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
