Unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua admits that he is unsurprised by the way Deontay Wilder has reacted to the first defeat of his career at the hands of WBC king Tyson Fury, but says he feels vindicated after the American publicly revealed he had rejected an offer for the pair to square off.
Wilder, who publicly accused Fury of cheating following their February rematch, also revealed via Twitter that he had indeed turned down a lucrative offer to face Anthony Joshua in an undisputed mega-fight.
“You [Tyson Fury] know I was offered more money to fight Joshua than I was getting to fight you,” Tweeted Wilder. “Again being a man of my word, I fought you.”
Ahead of his mandatory title defence against Kubrat Pulev on December 12, Joshua says he feels satisfied now that the public know the truth behind the public negotiations between he and ‘The Bronze Bomber’ in 2019.
“I’m not surprised,” Joshua told Sky Sports. “He [Wilder] is trying to express how he feels to the world. He has left it to us, the masses, to interpret it how we feel is best.
“How he feels today might change in a year or two years due to experiences or more understanding of the situation that he has gone through. He was knocking everybody out and got used to a winning performance. He took a loss and isn’t used to it.
“As time goes on, he may express himself differently. Today? In my humble opinion it isn’t coming across in the right way. The positive out of it? He told the world that he ducked and dodged me.
“We offered him a fight for the undisputed championship of the world and he went down the route of fighting Fury. I’m glad we can clear that up and move on. As time goes on, it will all come to fruition and make sense.”