Anthony Joshua: Deontay Wilder ‘Starving’ Fans Of Undisputed Title Fight

Heavyweight kingpin Anthony Joshua believes Deontay Wilder and his team are starving the fans of a title unification fight.

Wilder’s co-manager Shelley Finkel recently claimed the WBC heavyweight champion’s plate was full. He added that any potential fight with Joshua would have to wait until 2020.

Joshua and Wilder were notably slated to fight in September last year, but negotiations broke down. And possibly waiting until 2020 will only lead to more delays according to Joshua.

“It’s a fan sport isn’t it?” Joshua told Sporting News. “Wilder’s just starving the fans from an undisputed heavyweight championship fight. Wilder has smart people around him, he must know what he’s doing or be saying it to try and throw me off, who knows? He might want the fight next, but I don’t see why he would want to wait until 2020, because 2020 turns into 2021, you know what I mean?

“We need to get these negotiations on the way now in the background, I’ll focus on my fight, but he’s got people representing him, I’ve got people representing that can have these conversations so we can have the fight in 2019. I don’t know why he must wait so long. I can’t control the division, I think people assume that we were the ones that are dodging people, they did a great campaign to make a name off the back of our success on this side of the pond and with all that talking and hearsay, none of them have stepped up to fight. So, what can I say, talk is cheap.”

Joshua will be defending his heavyweight titles against short-notice opponent Andy Ruiz Jr. at New York’s Madison Square Garden on June 1. It will notably be his American debut.

As for Wilder, he will be defending his WBC crown against Dominic Breazeale on May 18 at the Barclays Center in New York.

Should both the unbeaten champions emerge victorious, they should ideally face each other next. However, as always the case with boxing, it looks like fans will have to brace themselves for a longer wait.