Promoter has a laugh at rivals
Well since WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder knocked Luis Ortiz out earlier this month there’s been a constant barrage of banter between his team and the team of WBA & IBF champion Anthony Joshua.
It’s all in fun of course as the two sides hope to face off later this year. First, Joshua has to get by WBO champion Joseph Parker on March 31st in their heavyweight unification bout.
Immediately following Wilder’s win over Ortiz, Wilder’s Co-Manager Shelly Finkel revealed an email exchange between him and Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn. The email stated that Hearn would be in contact with them soon regarding the intangibles of a possible deal between the two sides. Problem was that it was months old and no further communication between the two has taken place.
Hearn has recently started firing back at Finkel and Wilder’s promoter Lou DiBella. He has previously said that they don’t handle negotiations for Wilder and Al Haymon is who he deals with period. Most recently he had the following to say to IFL TV about dealing with Finkel and DiBella.
“If someone pipes up, they have to be dealt with. Lou DiBella piped up – he got spanked. Shirley Winkel has now piped up and now he’s been spanked,” Hearn said.
“They go mad, but they have to understand that this is great for them… for Lou DiBella and Shirley Winkel. I’ve just raised their profile unbelievably. If we make that fight between Joshua and Wilder – there are little subplots, like Lou DiBella being mad with me and maybe tries to chin me. That’s massive for the show. Shirley Winkel sitting there like Mr. Burns.
“Again, all of these little subplots are great for the show. I don’t care when DiBella says I’m silver spoon and all this other stuff. But when I say something, DiBella is on his knees and banging the floor and calling journalists saying ‘this motherf***er.’
“And Shirley Winkel has lost his sh*t because he’s saying that he negotiated the Klitschko fight [with Joshua] – no you didn’t…pipe down. It was all done with [Klitschko manager] Bernd [Boente] with one or two phone calls.
“His name changed last Thursday. He piped up and he got shut down. Shelly Finkel no longer exists now. You’re no longer Shelly Finkel, you’re Shirley Winkel. And now everyone in boxing refers to him as Shirley Winkel. With Shirley Winkel, everyone in America is coming up to me and says ‘you’ve ruined him, keep it going.’ Shirley Winkel has now gone mad. Shelly Finkel is no more, it’s Shirley Winkel. If the fight gets made, I will get the [name] tags made with Shirley Winkel [for the media events].”
While the exchanges between the sides can be funny and give us a laugh it’s highly unlikely that we’re anywhere closer to the fight all fans want from the heavyweight division. Will talks heat up should Joshua win next weekend? Hopefully for our sake they do. The time is now!
By: Chris Henderson
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