Last Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Deontay Wilder retained his WBC heavyweight title and unbeaten record after a vicious first-round knockout of Bermane Stiverne.
Stiverne had been the only fighter to ever push Wilder (39-0) the distance, but he was unable to last three minutes at the Barclays Center.
Wilder initially landed a huge left-right combination to the face of Stiverne, who was never able to recover from the blow. Stiverne tried – knocked down once more by another big right hand – and a final flurry from Wilder with seconds remaining in the round ended the bout.
The American is now 39-0 with 38 knockouts, and he wants to face WBA, IBF and IBO champion Anthony Joshua (20-0) next.
But Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn, is more interested in matching Dillian Whyte against Wilder. Should Wilder win that contest, then Hearn would consider ** the unification with Joshua. Hearn has targeted a February date in London for Wilder vs. Whyte.
Wilder sees no reason for that fight with Whyte to take place. Whyte's sole defeat was a knockout loss to Joshua two years ago. Wilder is ready to fight Joshua as soon as possible.
Joshua, who two weeks ago retained his titles with a TKO victory over Carlos Takam, is possibly going to return to the ring on a date in March with WBO champion Joseph Parker as one of the targets being pursued.
“When you look at Dillian Whyte, why do we have to go through a lower standard of fighter?” Wilder told The Breakfast Show.
“Even when you look at some of the opposition that I have fought in the past what’s the difference between him and those opposition? Dillian Whyte is just a distraction between me and Joshua and everybody knows it. For that reason I am not interested in it. The only way we would be interested in it is if Joshua comes with it.”
2023-10-19 23:05:14
