Former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder has continued to apply pressure on Anthony Joshua to finalize a potential high-stakes showdown.
For months, there had been talk of Wilder and Joshua colliding at the end of the year, but a big hurdle came up when a new management company was created to oversee boxing in Saudi Arabia.
Eddie Hearn, promoter for Joshua, is looking at different scenarios to get the Wilder fight back on track.
However, Wilder does not believe Joshua is mentally up for the task.
“With Anthony, I’ve always felt he had a weak mindset. I’ve always felt he wasn’t too confident in himself. He needs that affirmation of words to tell himself certain things. I’ve been saying that for a long time and it just continues to seem that way,” Wilder told 78SportsTV.
Several days ago, Wilder took to social media to call Joshua out.
Wilder is eager to get back in the ring, with his last fight taking place a year ago – a first round destruction of Robert Helenius at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The win over Helenius has been the only fight for Wilder since the trilogy loss to Tyson Fury in 2021.
“Let me know if Joshua responds if he gets him a little heart, some kind of courage or bravery, and we’ll see if we can start brand new. It’s about that time now. We can’t wait no more. You gotta start making your commands and demands and don’t get sucked into the bullsh!t of what the promotion is doing,” Wilder said.
“At some point in time he gotta grow up and become a man. What I mean by ‘as a man’ is a man in the state of boxing. You gotta say – ‘I’m gonna overcome my fears, I’m gonna make this fight no matter what my promoter might say.'”