Joshua on Wilder: Maybe he has ‘a master plan’

Anthony Joshua was once waiting eagerly to see if Deontay Wilder would fight him, now he’s just waiting to see what his next move is.

‘The Bronze Bomber’ has been strangely silent since that crushing first professional defeat at the hands of Tyson Fury in February.

Wilder not only lost his ‘0’ that night in Las Vegas, but he appears to have lost his bravado and confidence as well.

In the immediate aftermath there were rumours from his camp about the reasons for his defeat. Anything from a bicep injury to the weight of his elaborate ring walk costume.

Joshua knows what it is like to lose a long unbeaten record, he fell to Andy Ruiz Jr in New York in June 2019. And he’s fascinated to see what Wilder looks like on the other side.

He told Sky Sports News:  “I don’t know, so I can’t speak on everyone’s situation, but just from my humble opinion, after a loss, things change. You distance yourself. The world is cruel. You’ve got to have a thick skin.

“Either he’s putting together a master plan – he’s in a lab right now, with his science glasses on, studying Fury’s every move. Either he’s doing that, or he’s sitting at the edge of that lake, with his head in his hands and thinking, ‘What’s going on?’

“One minute you’re on top of the world, and the next minute you’re not. That’s the name of the game we’re in.”

Wilder had been due to face Fury in a trilogy match before the end of 2020. But with COVID-19 scuppering that prospect, Fury is now looking elsewhere for his December 5 opponent.

Joshua: Why no Fury vs Wilder trilogy?

Joshua said: “It’s interesting as to say, ‘Why he hasn’t spoken?’ But when he does speak, we’ll soon find out. For me to make speculation as to why he hasn’t spoken, I can’t because only he knows.

“But I can’t wait for him to address the reason why the fight isn’t going to happen at the end of the year. What happened in the first fight? Why he lost.

“Was it the costume, was it the glove situation? It would be really good to hear the reasons as to why and even better, I hope he does come back, because he’s a great asset to the heavyweight division, and like the Dillian situation, I would like to understand how he found the strength to pull himself up.”

Joshua of course has an important date of his own coming up – a title defence against Kubrat Pulev on December 12.

If he’s successful against the Bulgarian, a unification match against Fury beckons next summer. That would be the biggest fight in British boxing history.