Deontay Wilder will defend his WBC heavyweight title against Luis Ortiz on Saturday, but he’s already looking ahead at the proposed superfight with Anthony Joshua and has accused the Englishman’s promoter Eddie Hearn of exploiting the 28-year-old.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s showdown with the dangerous Cuban at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, the 32-year-old Wilder aimed some explosive comments in the direction of Hearn. Per MailOnline’s Declan Taylor, he did not hold back:
“Eddie Hearn is just another white man milking a black man, that’s all it is.
“It’s easy. It’s about time for somebody to say it and come out with it, and I don’t care who hears it. I don’t hold my voice and I don’t have any filters, I speak what I think.
“Joshua has been letting him do it because if Joshua really wanted this fight he knows how to make it happen. Give the fans what they want to see.”
Wilder also said he’ll travel to England to face Joshua on his own turf, once the two take care of their respective business—with Joshua meeting Joseph Parker later in March:
“I already did you a favour by fighting Luis Ortiz because you ducked him.
“You don’t have to worry about him anymore. You know I’m ready to fight at any given time. I will even come to your home town, I will come to your back yard. I love England, I love coming there, I’m right at home there.
“I won’t be chasing him around, but once I’ve finished with Luis Ortiz and if he wins against Joseph Parker, it’s time, man. It will be the biggest fight of our generation and the biggest fight of both of our careers.”
IBF, WBA and IBO champion Joshua will face the WBO title-holder Parker on March 31, and he’s expected to turn his attention to Wilder if he wins that bout.
Wilder and Joshua are the two biggest names in the heavyweight division today, and fans have been dreaming of a unification bout between the two for years.
AJ has 20 wins, all by knockout, while the Bronze Bomber has taken 38 of his 39 wins by stoppage. Only Bermane Stiverne was able to go the distance in 2015, but in their rematch last year, Wilder knocked him out as well.
Joshua faced the biggest test of his career in 2017?a showdown with former heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko, one of the best fights of the year. Like the Alabama native Wilder, Ortiz is undefeated, turning a stellar amateur career into a great run in the heavyweight division.
Ortiz is a fantastic technician, and even though he’s 38 years old, he appears to be in spectacular shape, as shared by professional boxer Anthony Fowler:
Most of the heavyweight division has avoided Ortiz for years, and Wilder has gone out of his way to book a fight with the veteran. The two were supposed to meet last year, but the bout was scrapped after Ortiz failed a drug test, per ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael.
The counterpunching expert could spring a huge surprise on Saturday and turn the heavyweight division on its head. If he doesn’t, and Joshua does his part against Parker later this month, fans may finally get to see the showdown everyone’s been waiting for.
