Deontay Wilder is still understandably angry due to the manner in which his huge unification fight with rival heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has (for the time being) fallen apart. Wilder, speaking with RingTV.com, says that if negotiations are to resume (and as big as this fight is, it would be extremely unlikely if the respective sides did not get together, sort of, and try again) he must be paid a straight 50 percent share of the fight purse.
There will be no flat fee accepted, the WBC ruler said firmly. Wilder also said that it’s “a curse being so good” in that it’s harder and harder to get the big fight opportunities. Case in point, according to Wilder (and of course Joshua has his many supporters, who claim it was no fault of Joshua’s that this fight fell apart) is the fact that AJ has “ducked him.”
“It gonna be 50-50 straight across [if and when the fight negotiations begin anew],” Wilder said. “I’m not accepting no flat fees, no none of that. We done with that, and I can smile and say we done with that, bro. … By not fighting me, and people seeing that I really want it, it hurt them but it helps me out. When people see you trying, that’s all that matters. I can only do what I can do. I can’t make a guy get in the ring. It’s a curse being so good because although you’re at the top you still don’t get no opportunities.”
So what now for Wilder in the meantime? The likely next fight for the WBC champ is a mandatory defence against Dominic Breazeale. As for Joshua, we know he will face Alexander Povetkin in September, possibly at Wembley. Povetkin is of course the man Wilder would have fought himself back in early summer 2016, with Wilder signing for the fight and going to Russia before Povetkin failed a pre-fight drugs test.
Wilder is now rooting for the Russian star:
“I hope Povetkin knock him out, I really do,” Wilder stated.
Promoter Eddie Hearn has said numerous times how he is not happy that AJ is facing “danger man” Povetkin, that this is a tough and risky assignment for the WBA/IBF/WBO champion. If Povetkin does manage to do what Wilder says he wants, and KO’s Joshua, we may well have lost the Wilder Vs. Joshua showdown for good.