Joshua vs Wilder is THE Fight
Now that Canelo Alvarez has put the kibosh to the rematch with Gennady Golovkin, it’s not even debatable what the biggest fight in boxing is. Prior to the recent reintroduction of the make cattle stronger, help humans lose weight drug, Clenbuterol, it was at least a discussion but now? Move over Canelo/GGG because there’s a new sheriff in town and it’s name is Joshua/Wilder.
If you don’t believe Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder is the biggest fight in boxing, without the name Mayweather attached of course, then you’re either stuck in denial or delusional. Either way, you got one of the two D’s. Agreed? Good let’s carry on.
Joshua vs Wilder is THE fight now, so with that declaration, does it get made or “marinated”? Sometimes marination is good, sometimes it’s not. For May/Pac? Great. For Tyson/Holyfield originally? Hmm not so good. For Canelo/GGG? Still to be determined honestly.
Building a fight is like playing with a double-edge sword. Don’t build enough and it “underachieves”, build too long and it completely falls apart. It’s most definitely a fine line. It is a line however that I believe Eddie Hearn and the braintrust behind Wilder; Al Haymon, Shelly Finkel, Jay Deas and Lou DiBella have navigated very well in retrospect.
See, for a fight to hit it’s maximum value it has to be THE FIGHT that everyone wants to watch. Well, with the crumbling of Canelo/GGG, Joshua/Wilder has no competition for that status at all, which makes it maximum value time.
Earlier this week, I done an article on the very subject of Joshua/Wilder and when will they get serious.[link below]
Interestingly enough, Canelo crumbles on Tuesday, and bingo!, Hearn confirms to Sky Sports earlier today that real negotiations and talks have begun.
Wilder manager, Finkel, saidto 3KingsBoxing.com that; “That’s the fight we’re negotiating. The only fight.” When asked about Breazeale rumors; “There is no Breazeale deal at all. We’re negotiating for one guy only and that’s Joshua.”
Are they finally serious? I could tell what I’ve heard but just because I heard Showtime is involved in the talks, and that don’t happen unless shit gets serious in negotiations… Hence the late developing issues with the recent Vasyl Lomachenko vs Jorge Linares deal. That deal almost went sideways due to network involvement but it got done because the hard “negotiation” part of the deal was done. Hell I may have heard more than that. That’s a good sign.
Hmmm… Let’s hope that happens here. Hint, hint Eddie, Al, Shelly, Jay, Lou and whoever else is needed for us the fans to get this fight next!!
By: Chris Henderson
