Deontay Wilder hits back at Anthony Joshua's throwdown
Deontay Wilder’s team have hit back at Anthony Joshua’s promoters, saying they have no interest in meeting unless there is a “real offer” for the pair to fight.
After retaining his WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles with a win over Alexander Povetkin on Saturday, Joshua (22-0) made it clear he wanted to face Wilder next.
Wilder (40-0) holds the WBC heavyweight crown and already has a fight lined up against Tyson Fury in Los Angeles on December 1.
Joshua’s ambitions to fight Wilder are best on his desire to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
The American’s representative, Shelly Finkel, said he currently saw no reason to meet with Joshua’s promoter Barry Hearn.
“I have sent three separate emails to Barry saying that I have no desire to meet with Barry unless I have a real offer for Wilder to meet Joshua,” he told Sky Sports.
“He and I have been in the business long enough to know what that offer would look like.”
Negotiations between the Wilder and Joshua camps already broke down earlier this year, but there remains hope the pair will fight in 2019.
Anthony Joshua’s knockout combo wows fans
Britain’s Anthony Joshua has overcome a slow start to deliver a devastating knockout in the seventh round to defeat Russian Alexander Povetkin.
Joshua retained his impressive WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO world heavyweight championship belts, and sent boxing fans into a frenzy.
In front of about 80,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, Joshua fought with a suspected broken nose from the second round to improve his unbeaten record to 22 wins, 21 wins inside the distance.
Joshua sent Povetkin to the canvas with a big right midway through the seventh and was unloading a flurry of punches to end the fight.
“Povetkin is a very tough challenger, he proved that tonight with good left hooks and counter punches,” Joshua said.
“I knew he was strong to the head but weak to the body. I was just mixing it up.
“It could have been seven, maybe nine, maybe 12 rounds to get him out of there but the ultimate aim was to be victorious.
“I got my knockout streak back.”
The loss was just the second of 39-year-old Povetkin’s 36-fight career – his only other defeat was to Wladimir Klitschko, who Joshua scored a TKO win over last year to claim three of his four world titles.
The fight is the first of a two-match deal Joshua has agreed to stage at Wembley, with the second due to take place in April next year.
“If I had a pecking order it would be Wilder, Dillian (Whyte) and then Fury,” Joshua told taskSPORT.
“Dillian deserves it more than Fury because he’s been consistent and Wilder because he’s the champion.”
However, his plan to become the undisputed world heavyweight champion may have to wait a little longer as WBC title holder Wilder announced earlier on Saturday a showdown with former world champion Fury on December 1 in the United States.
with Agencies.