WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder had failed to reach an agreement on a deal for a fight with WBA, WBO, IBO, and IBF world champion Anthony Joshua.
Joshua retained his heavyweight titles after knocking out Alexander Povetkin in the seventh round of their bout in Wembley on April 13.
According to Wilder’s coach Jay Deas, Wilder and his manager had offered $ 50 million to Joshua to fight in the U.S – a proposal that the unified heavyweight champion immediately rejected.
“We know that Deontay is the holder of the biggest and most prestigious belt and we know he is the one who wants to fight the best,” Deas said.
“The bottom line in this story that Joshua is concerned with comes down to three questions; ‘Did AJ say he wanted to fight for $ 50 million?’ The answer is yes! ‘Did we offer him $ 50 million?’ The answer is yes! ‘Did he then take the fight?’ The answer is no! So that’s about what you need to know.” Deas added.
Wilder will be back in the ring with former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury on December 1 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. However, Deas believes the WBC champion is willing to take one anyone, anywhere, and sees no problem challenging Joshua in England.
“We know that Deontay wants to fight the best. We know that Tyson Fury is the one who accepted the challenge. So for us, the two best heavyweights in the world will face each other on December 1.”
“Deontay always wanted to fight the best, and that’s why he had prepared to go Russia. He was the first American heavyweight champion to go to Russia to fight Povetkin.
Deontay Wilder has to beat Tyson Fury on December 1 to have a fight with Anthony Joshua. (Source:www.irishexaminer.com)
“The fight finally did not happen [Povetkin failed an anti-doping test], so he immediately challenged Luis Ortiz and he won a fight that was a classic versus the best technical boxer in the vision.
“The two guys – Tyson and Deontay – should be praised for taking on the challenge of taking part in the fight.
“The fighters should realise that they have more power than they think and that if a fighter wants a fight to be done, he can go see his relatives to tell them, ‘I want this fight, doing the fight and let’s do it now!’ That’s exactly what the two champions did.” Deas added.
