Former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder claims Anthony Joshua avoided fighting him years ago when he attempted to arrange a unification battle.
ESNEWS spoke with Wilder at a celebrity golf event on the rematch between Joshua and heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, as well as the hypothetical Tyson Fury vs. Usyk unification clash for the undisputed title.
“Of course I watched it (Joshua vs. Usyk),” Wilder told ESNEWS. “I mean Joshua did exactly what we expected him to do, to be cautious and run out of gas. He has a serious stamina problem, a serious stamina problem. We knew that he would be very cautious because of what happened before. As you see he was very cautious of throwing punches and different things like that. That best man (Usyk) won that night.
“I think Fury is too big for him. One thing he got going for him is just his size. I look at that fight like a Cunningham, somebody that dominates him, but then when he gets tired he looks to lean on him. Anything’s possible, you can’t look past Usyk, his skill and ability to manoeuvre around the ring as well so anything can happen. Anything can happen in the business of boxing.”
Wilder also revealed that Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn toyed with him for six months when he was ready to go to England to fight the Briton for a unification bout several years ago.
Wilder and Joshua were both undefeated at the time, and it was the biggest fight to make in boxing, but it never came to fruition. Wilder was doing everything he could to try and make the fight but he said Joshua’s team avoided it.
After Joshua lost to Andy Ruiz by stoppage and was outboxed by Oleksandr Usyk twice, Wilder sees why they avoided him.
“That’s why they didn’t make the fight before,” Wilder said. “I mean that is the reason they took me on a six-month rollercoaster because they did everything to avoid the fight. They did not want to fight me and these are the results and the reason, we are seeing it fast forward years later. I hate talking about those guys. These promoters, managers, they put a bad taste in my mouth every time because they get in the way of big fights from happening.”