Deontay Wilder kept the trash talk at a minimum during his recent high-profile press conference in London, but that hasn’t stopped him from agreeing with one of his bitter rivals on his damning assessment of Anthony Joshua.
Wilder was part of a stellar line-up of boxing stars in attendance to announce the Day of Reckoning card, which takes place in Saudi Arabia on December 23.
‘The Bronze Bomber’ faces Joseph Parker, while Joshua takes on Otto Wallin, with Wilder and ‘AJ’ then set to meet in 2024 if they are both victorious.
Another fight on the bill sees Jarrell Miller meet Daniel Dubois. Miller has become an enemy of both Wilder and Joshua, and resumed his war of words with the Brit during last month’s press conference.
While Wilder may have chose to remain quiet at the time, he has since weighed in on the situation. The former WBC heavyweight champion told Instant Casino that Miller was right to criticise Joshua.
“I think I shocked a lot of people when I came with a cool, calm and collected attitude [to the press conference]. But that’s me all day.
There’s a time and place for all things and that wasn’t the time and the place to come out with all the ‘I’ve been waiting on you AJ’ or say something like Jarrell Miller said.
I didn’t have to say anything, everyone said what needed to be said, especially Jarrell Miller. I can’t stand him one bit, but he told the truth about AJ.”
‘The Bronze Bomber’ has previously said he dislikes Miller because of comments in the past, and even claims to have let those frustrations out in a sparring session that saw the controversial heavyweight hospitalised.
Wilder wasn’t finished with his damning assessment of ‘AJ’, as he went on to say that fighters are now firing shots at Joshua because he isn’t the force he was previously.
“By him saying what he said, enough was said. I didn’t need to come to AJ. It seemed like a lot of other guys were already coming at him. It seems like he doesn’t have the respect he once had. A lot of the guys coming up disrespect him and say anything to him.
“And I think that’s kind of a frustrating thing for him, to go from one state of mind – everyone respects him – to now losing a few times and everyone now thinks you’re very beatable and we can beat you, so we’re going to talk trash to you and get to you.”
The Day of Reckoning event will also see two world title fights, as Dmitry Bivol defends his WBA light-heavyweight title against Lyndon Arthur, and Jai Opetaia puts his IBF cruiserweight belt on the line against Ellis Zorro.