Deontay Wilder wants to make a ghastly crime scene out of Dominic Breazeale on Saturday night, and Anthony Joshua expects a dramatic knockout in his own fight against Andy Ruiz Jr. on June 1.
If each titleholder wins convincingly — as they're expected to do — could we finally have a unification fight to decide the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world later this year? The scenario seems practicable, considering how close the two fights are.
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Sitting in Wilder's SoHo hotel room in New York City earlier in the week, Sporting News posed the very question to the WBC champion.
"Anything is possible, but this year … I can't say," Wilder told Sporting News. “I do believe in speaking things into existence. I do believe in speaking things into the universe and it shall come to you with the law of attraction. They've already stated that they're not looking to fight me until 2020."
Wilder believes the negotiations will be played out behind closed doors and suddenly sprung on the public, just as they were when his December 2018 bout with Tyson Fury was announced.
"When the fight happens, it's going to be in quiet, it's going to be in silence," Wilder said. “It's going to be like the Fury fight, where no one knows and least expects the fight is going to happen — that's when it's going to be announced. Great fights happen when all parties come together and they do it in silence and then they announce it amongst the world. That’s what’s going to need to happen for this fight."
But more is needed to make this fight happen, according to "The Bronze Bomber." The timing of Joshua’s impending U.S. debut intrigues Wilder, with the WBC titleholder believing that the unified WBO/WBA/IBF heavyweight champion is suddenly desperate to make the fight happen, even if it means on American soil and not in the British kingdom over which he rules.
"Now that he don’t have nowhere to go — he already said he wouldn’t come to America because they have a good thing going over in England and the fans deserve it there — but now you've run out of places to go, you want an epic fight with me all of sudden now?
"When I lowered my standards — five different times, we tried to make this fight. Five different times. And what happened all those times? And all of a sudden now? It don’t work like that. We got all the keys here in America."
Of course, if you ask Joshua and his Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, you’ll get a different account detailing why the super fight hasn’t happened yet, and an opposing argument about why AJ holds all the keys.
But that isn’t going to stop Wilder from budging from his assertion that he, Al Haymon and Premier Boxing Champions and Showtime have the lion's share of bargaining chips and leverage, and they now dictate the flow of the conversation to make this fight a reality.
"Now they have to go by our rules and what we say now," Wilder said emphatically. "Now it's time for you to lower your standards. Now it’s time for you continue to do what you're doing now — continue to beg. And we'll give you the fight; don't worry, it's going to come, and when it do, it's going to be a pleasure to knock him out.”
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On paper, each undefeated champion poses a threat to hand the other his first loss. Whether Joshua uses his growing boxing skills and punching power to put out Wilder's flame or "The Bronze Bomber" catches AJ with a scintillating knockout punch remains to be seen. Of course, the first step is cementing the actual fight.
With both of their title defenses in New York City, Wilder wants fans to know he won’t be confronting Joshua in the ring June 1 at Madison Square Garden in an attempt to force the fight into existence.
"I’ve tried to do that. I’m not doing nothing that I’ve already tried to do — nothing I’ve already gotten denied of doing," Wilder said bluntly. "Why try to do it now? Because the fans want to see it? Nah, it don’t work like that.
"It’s their turn to lower their standards. It’s their turn to try to make the fight happen. Not me," he added. "I’m not going to try to do it no more. We did it for four months. And every time we got close, they moved the goal post. Now it’s no more of that. So, when the fight happens, it happens."
