Promoter Eddie Hearn believes Deontay Wilder has no intention of fighting Anthony Joshua anytime soon, hence his decision not to attend AJ’s upcoming clash with Andy Ruiz Jr.
The Bronze Bomber previously hinted he would be ringside for Joshua’s US debut at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, though co-promoter Shelly Finkel has since revealed that Wilder will not be showing his face. The WBC champion is rumoured to have already lined up fights against Luis Ortiz and Adam Kownacki, and Hearn fears Wilder’s no-show confirms a unification fight will not be happening next.
‘I think because Deontay knows he’s not going to fight Joshua, or he doesn’t want to fight Joshua, there’s going to be a lot of pressure on him,’ Hearn said. ‘If he’s there, we’re going to put it on him, the media are going to put it on him and the fans are going to put it on him. And if he knows he’s fighting Ortiz, there probably isn’t a huge amount of point in him going to be honest. But I hope he goes.’
Probed on whether Wilder should be attending if he truly wants to unify the division, Hearn continued: ‘What can we do? We want the undisputed fight, we can’t make it any clearer. I don’t care about Deontay Wilder, we’ve got to care about Andy Ruiz. Next week, Britain takes over Madison Square Garden and America get to see Anthony Joshua live and up close. All I care about is Joshua-Ruiz. Once that’s dealt with, and touch wood AJ gets the win, we’ll move on and push as hard as we can for that fight [against Wilder].’
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