Deontay Wilder (38-0) defends his WBC Heavyweight Championship belt in a rematch with the proven Bermane Stiverne (25-2-1), but he can be forgiven for casting one eye towards to a lucrative 2018 unification clash with IBO, IBF & WBA (Super) Champion, Anthony Joshua.
Wilder has been very vocal recently, with criticism being directed at the Briton’s physique and Wilder even went as far to suggest directly to Joshua to ‘stay off the weights’.
Wilder told FightHype.com: “He definitely has stamina problems, we saw that in the Klitschko fight. If I was him, whoever his stamina coach is, they need to be fired. There are a lot of things that Joshua is doing wrong that’s making him have those stamina problems.” Wilder spoke very frankly when evaluating Joshua’s physique and energy levels.
Wilder who dons the more classical chiseled physique, which has been typical of the popular heavyweight champions of the past said “He [Joshua] will show courage until he runs out of gas” but Wilder warned Joshua he will be in deep water if he tires against him “then it’s life and death for him [against me]” said Wilder
Wilder proceeded to explain that once he sees weakness he intends to jump on Joshua and force his opponent to fight at a high tempo that will cause the fight to boil down to a case of who wants it more “Once he’s tired, I see him giving up. Once that happens, I’m going to turn up the heat on him and it’s a wrap. They may throw in the towel” Wilder said.
On a final note, Wilder also touched on the monumental passing of the torch meeting between Joshua and Klitschko in front of 90,000 spectators at Wembley in April.
Both Joshua and the longtime former champion, ‘Dr. Steelhammer’ traded knockdowns in a scintillating encounter which culminated in Joshua dramatically stopping Klitschko in the 11th round. Wilder meanwhile has downplayed the victory arguing “Joshua beat Klitschko when [Klitschko] had no belts,” added Wilder. Wilder argued Klitschko was not the fighter he once was and this made him a target that was essentially ripe for the picking “He was coming off a [17-month] layoff and the loss to Tyson [Fury] I’ve seen a lot I can exploit in Joshua that I’ll keep it to myself, but he ain’t ready for me” Wilder concluded.
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