After months of speculation and negotiations, a fight between Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua is off of the table, and Paulie Malignaggi has pointed out the main reason as to why Wilder saw the spectacle to collapse.
Five years of back-and-forth between the two former champions seemed set to be over as both men appeared on the same card last month to tee-up a long-awaited showdown between Joshua and ‘The Bronze Bomber.’
However, Wilder looked lost in the ring and was well beaten by Joseph Parker, who ‘AJ’ defeated back in 2018, in a performance that has seemingly killed all hype around their proposed contest.
Speaking to Pro Box TV, Malignaggi detailed the difference between Wilder’s underwhelming display and the performances of Joshua against Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius earlier in the year, to understand why Wilder’s loss had such a detrimental impact.
“You know what it is with Joshua? Even though he wasn’t looking mentally sturdy, you could see that he was trying to get there, that’s the difference between him and Wilder.
He was active, he was working on it, you could see that he wanted to be better and he just wasn’t, you could see that it frustrated him because he went back and kept working harder, and he showed up super sharp for his fight with Wallin.
Wilder just wasn’t mentally in it, he hadn’t fought in a while, then he shows up and lays this egg in Saudi Arabia and does this post-fight interview where it seems like he doesn’t care.”
With their fight off for now, Joshua has instead signed to face Francis Ngannou and Wilder is currently slated for the undercard.
