AJ passed on $50+ mil, PPV, and fighting in Vegas...

[kafkod]

When was that fight supposed to take place? Klitschko was committed to Jennings when Wilder won his title. Then Klitschko owed an overdue double mandatory to Fury. Klitschko and Wilder were supposed to fight after that, but Klitschko lost.

Hey .. you should have passed those excuses on to Shelly Finkel. The best one he could come up with was this:

“Look, Wilder is a baby winning the title. It was his first title fight, they'll be a time for unification, they'll be a time for all those things. Give him a couple of fights, maybe bring something back to Alabama. Let him develop just like any other athlete. They don't take someone who is a great college prospect and throw him right in. And this kid is a great prospect.”

https://www.boxingscene.com/wilder-not-rushed-klitschko-says-finkel--86714

Quack quack .... quack quack ...

[rickJen]

These Wilder-ites are confused people.
On one hand they say it's not about the money.
Yet here is their thread talking about money.
Kills me.
Funny part is Joshua is giving up making that kind of money
in favor of having the home advantage.
In contrast, Wilder and Wilder-ites complain about getting low balled.
Meaning, they want more.
Greedy people.

[N/A]

Hey .. you should have passed those excuses on to Shelly Finkel. The best one he could come up with was this:

“Look, Wilder is a baby winning the title. It was his first title fight, they'll be a time for unification, they'll be a time for all those things. Give him a couple of fights, maybe bring something back to Alabama. Let him develop just like any other athlete. They don't take someone who is a great college prospect and throw him right in. And this kid is a great prospect.”

And Finkel kept his word. He quickly set up two defenses for Wilder and then had him go public that he was ready for Klitschko ASAP.

During that time, Klitschko wasn't available anyway.

Finkel was managing both Wilder and Klitschko at the time and was building to a huge fight between them in 2016. Unfortunately for Finkel, Fury beat Klitschko and it ruined the plans.

[rickJen]

Hey .. you should have passed those excuses on to Shelly Finkel. The best one he could come up with was this:

“Look, Wilder is a baby winning the title. It was his first title fight, they'll be a time for unification, they'll be a time for all those things. Give him a couple of fights, maybe bring something back to Alabama. Let him develop just like any other athlete. They don't take someone who is a great college prospect and throw him right in. And this kid is a great prospect.”

https://www.boxingscene.com/wilder-not-rushed-klitschko-says-finkel--86714

Quack quack .... quack quack ...

And the Wilder-ites want us to believe the guy who fought and beat Klitschko was the one ducking.

[MONGOOSE66]

When was that fight supposed to take place? Klitschko was committed to Jennings when Wilder won his title. Then Klitschko owed an overdue double mandatory to Fury. Klitschko and Wilder were supposed to fight after that, but Klitschko lost.

There was always time even before that.

[MONGOOSE66]

Wrong! Wilder is a world champion just like Joshua is. There are scores of fighters lining up just wanting to take his place. Let's forget about the economics for the moment and let's just focus on the fans. Currently there are two World champions out here Joshua and Wilder and both need to fight each other for the battle of supremacy of the heavyweight division. If AJ really wants this fight he could make it happen. I must admit, if he doesn't fight Wilder he is going to lose a lot of hardcore boxing fans. They will turn on him. They will see that he is not a fan friendly fighter who gives a damn about them nor give them the fights they want to see. They will see that he is cut from the same cloth as Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

ALL champions try to delay fighting men they know have a chance to beat them. Why risk it when you can make money fighting bums. Hey, don’t complain to me. I didn’t make the rules. Greed did.

[Ray*]

I think he is doing just fine. Hopefully they can invest that money in Wilder.

[TrillScottHeron]

I hope AJ got some ownership in DAZN/Matchroom in exchange

Been saying that since the fallout of the Wilder fight. Regardless of all the duck talk that the fans and media have been screaming about. I have had enormous respect for both men since early 2015 and have followed both careers since. It seems lost on people that this upcoming bout against Povetkin is Joshua’s last fight under his current contract with Matchroom (expires in Nov). He also recently (last Dec, I believe) created his own promotional company (currently has Okolie and Chamberlain signed). I could easily see him not resigning with Matchroom, yet keeping on good terms with the Hearns (in order to keep good standing on the homefront) and starting his own promotional banner with a **** and fight Wilder. After all he has stated he wants to be a billionaire, gaining stock points in a global subscription based company like DAZN (whether it blows up in the US or not) is just great business.

Edit: Damn, didn’t know how long this was till I posted. Tl;Dr: Joshua could emerge from this saga the real winner regardless of the outcome of a bout against Wilder if he is truly about his business.

[champion4ever]

AJ is his own man but he has to be aware of the potential backlash for ducking Deontay Wilder. These same fans who now revere him could just as easily turn around and jeer him as a perceived coward for not facing the best opponent available.

[N/A]

There was always time even before that.

When? Why would Finkel have done the fight before anybody would have cared about the fight? Doesn't make any sense.