It has been Eddie Hearn’s master plan all along to surround Deontay Wilder with bouts against Matchroom boxers only in 2018.
The WBC World heavyweight champion is schedulled to defend his strap on March 3 against Luis Ortiz at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. If Wilder gets past the Cuban challenger, he basically has two options on the table: either fight Anthony Joshua or defend the title against number one ranked WBC fighter, Dillian Whyte.
They call me the #BronzeBomber but I look best in green….. ✅💵👑 #BombZquad#SophiaTheBelt#WBCpic.twitter.com/R57BEXqpXO
— Deontay Wilder (@BronzeBomber) January 18, 2018
Wilder has publically denied the chance of fighting Whyte and has even demanded a fee of seven million to step into the same ring with the ‘Body Snatcher.’
But with Whyte being the current WBC Silver heavyweight champion and number one in the rankings – he will become the mandatory challenger to the American’s title.
Hearn is confident the fight will happen this year.
“Dillian Whyte is number one in the WBC. He’s the number one ranked challenger to Deontay Wilder right now. If the WBC were to call their mandatory now it would be Dillian Whyte. That is going to come soon. Whether it’s after this fight, whether it’s six months, at some point Dillian Whyte is going to be the mandatory to Deontay Wilder,” said Hearn to Boxing Social.
Though Whyte still has work to be done in March when he faces Lucas Browne at the O2 in London. If Whyte and Wilder retain their titles, the fight seems to be inevitable.
“I would like Dillian to fight Deontay Wilder but of course ‘AJ’ is on that collision path as well. What this fight [Whyte-Browne] is trying to do is to put Dillian Whyte in a position to say ‘it’s my turn, you have to fight me. Whether it’s Wilder, Parker, AJ, I’m the guy who is next,’ and that is very important,” Hearn continued.
But just like Hearn has said, Joshua-Wilder is the fight to make.
https://twitter.com/anthonyfjoshua/status/954385780515975169
It’s been the most talked about heavyweight match up in world boxing. Wilder has been calling Joshua out and the WBA, IBF & IBO champion is more than willing to challenge Wilder for the WBC title should get the job done against Joseph Parker first on March 31st.
“I’m almost certain Joshua-Wilder will happen this year. It’s just whether it’s in the summer or November, December. We may box in the summer, depending on how the Parker fight goes. Whether that’s Wilder or not, we’ll see,” told Hearn in an interview with Boxing News.
Wilder’s plan for 2018 seems to be clear. He defends against Ortiz and then fights either Joshua, Whyte or both. But let’s not forget the fact that Joshua is also keen to give Whyte a rematch.
“AJ has been repeatedly asked about who is next and his answer is always Dillian Whyte. He wants to fight Dillian Whyte and when I ask him about it he says ‘that was such a great fight, it was madness’, but ‘AJ’ likes fights like that. Dillian Whyte against Anthony Joshua is big fight. That’s definitely on the radar,” concluded Hearn with Boxing Social.
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