Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua finally look all set to face each other this December in Saudi Arabia.
The two former champions have been linked to a fight for years. At one stage both controlled all the belts in the division and an undisputed clash seemed inevitable. A deal couldn’t be reached and now neither man holds any heavyweight hardware – but that doesn’t seem to have taken any intrigue away from the clash.
‘AJ’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, recently confirmed the fight was ‘locked in’ for the end of the year and revealed his man was set to earn a staggering $60 million on the night.
In a recent interview on DAZN’s YouTube channel, Hearn claimed that Wilder was the most ‘overrated’ fighter in the entire sport when prompted. ‘The Bronze Bomber’s trainer, Malik Scott, has understandably taken exception to these comments.
Speaking to ES News about the remarks, Scott said the promoter has never had anything good to say about Wilder and that ‘they didn’t need him’.
“So this is the thing with Eddie Hearn. If you ask Eddie Hearn about Deontay Wilder, that’s the equivalent of going into a Christian church and holding the Quran up saying ‘this is where the power is that.’
I’ve never heard Eddie say anything positive about Deontay besides he can punch, and that’s a given. You can’t ask Eddie Hearn ask anything good about Deontay, but you also can’t tell him nothing wrong about AJ. You see how the two collide? He’s pro AJ, he’s anti Wilder. But, you know, f**k him. We don’t need him.
As long as he play his part in so-called getting this big fight done, that’s all we need Eddie for.”
Joshua is set to face Dillian Whyte on August 12 before going into the clash with the hard hitting American. As for Wilder, whether he steps into the ring beforehand remains to be seen, with a fight against Andy Ruiz seemingly dead in the water.