Boxing trainer and analyst, Teddy Atlas, believes that Anthony Joshua will never fight Deontay Wilder due to a vulnerability and fears over the American’s punch power.
Joshua and Wilder have been linked to a fight with one another for over five years now, but still the trans-Atlantic rivals are yet to deliver.
There was a time where the pair would have been involved in one of the division’s greatest ever fights on paper. When they both held world titles, they were on the verge of crowning a first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era.
Whilst the reputation of both men has taken a hit since they lost those belts, the intrigue for a fight remains and rumours say that it may be closer than ever.
Atlas, though, doesn’t believe the fight happens. Speaking via his YouTube channel, he said that the clash of styles was unfavourable for ‘AJ’ – specifically Wilder’s secret weapon.
“That vulnerability of Joshua, for the right-hand, that is one of the reasons, besides the reason that he has made so much money and doesn’t need to do this, you will never see him in with Wilder.
You’re never seeing him with Wilder, ever. If I was backing him, I don’t know if I would want to put him in there with Wilder either, to be quite frank, [because of] the kind of right-hand that Wilder chucks and the susceptibility that he [AJ] has to getting hit with the right-hand.”
Despite what Atlas claims, Joshua has reiterated his desire to face his rival and could be lining up a fight with ‘The Bronze Bomber’ in Saudi Arabia at the end of the year.