One year ago, Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder ruled the heavyweight division. Joshua held the IBF, WBA (Super), and WBO belts while Wilder had the WBC strap. A bout seemed inevitable despite failed negotiations between both parties on several occasions.
But things took a turn when Andy Ruiz Jr. upset Joshua last June to become the unified heavyweight champion. Immediately after the fight, Wilder took to social media, lambasted Joshua and said his career was filled with nothing but lies. Joshua invoked his rematch clause and dominated Ruiz in December to regain his titles.
At the end of February, Wilder met Tyson Fury in the sequel from their memorable December 2018 bout. Fury dominated from the opening bell to batter Wilder and stop him in the seventh round to win the WBC heavyweight title. Many boxing fans were waiting by their cell phones to see if Joshua would follow the same path as Wilder. But the two-time unified heavyweight champion remained silent. In a recent interview, Joshua said the reason he remained quiet was that he and Wilder are two different people who handle things differently.
"I went into my drawer and pulled out my long list of things to say," Joshua said on DAZN's Boxing With Chris Mannix. "I've got a lot of things to say about Wilder. But you don't knock a man when he's down, also. That was at the top of the list. I have to stand by those principles.
"But for sure, I think me and Wilder, as I say, are cut from a different cloth. He's what we call … it begins with a 'b' and ends with a 'h'. I'm not like that. I'm more of a man. I don't really get on the internet talking crap. The only times you've seen me talking recklessly is against Dillian Whyte and against Jarrell Miller. Other than that, I'm an ambassador of the sport. I'm trying to be clean. I'm trying represent my sponsorships. I'm trying to represent DAZN properly. I try to stay away from the typical stereotype of a heavyweight boxer. It's difficult, but I have it in me to fire up and talk recklessly when needed."
So what did Joshua think after Fury defeated Wilder? The 2012 Olympic gold medalist looked at Wilder's resume of title defenses and feels that when Wilder stepped inside the ring against quality opposition in Luis Ortiz and Fury, he got exposed.
"I'm only going to speak facts on this situation," Joshua said. "Wilder's had I think 10 title defenses of the WBC belt. So I look across the 10 title defenses that he's had, and he's fought Artur Szpilka, (Dominic) Breazeale, Johann Duhaupas, Bermane Stiverne, (Luis) Ortiz twice, fought Fury twice and Chris Arreola and (Eric) Molina. Within those 10, I looked and said, 'We got Tyson Fury twice and Ortiz twice and they're the top tier fighters in his 10 defenses'. All of those, four challenges he's had with top tier fighters, he's struggled with.
"Fury's coming back from a long layoff, and I thought he'd come back again and get it right. I know when it means to come so close and have it stripped away. I thought Tyson Fury would do exactly what he would do. Technically wise, he's got that down. How he went about it, I just thought when Deontay Wilder gets to that top-level, it's going to be difficult for him to stay there due to the fact that he had so long bobbing around in mediocre fights."
In the first part of 2019, Wilder reportedly held talks with DAZN for a three-fight deal with the latter two being against Joshua. Wilder ended up turning down the offer. Seeing the game plan Fury implemented made Joshua feel that if they had battled, he would have done the same thing as his fellow Englishman.
"Of course," Joshua said. "That's the way to take it. When you look in a warrior's toolbag, and I look at Deontay Wilder's toolbag, he has a right hand. So I say, 'How do I take away the right hand?' It's hard for a fighter to throw a powerful right hand moving backward. So we need to put him on his back foot and be dominant in that sense. How do we take away the right hand when he's on his front foot? I needed to practice slipping it, making it shoot over my head — the same thing with the lead hand. I've never seen him hurt anyone with an uppercut. I've never seen him hurt anyone with a right hand to the body or with a left hook. I think the pressure would take away his main weapon, the right hand, and you're 75 percent there on the way to victory."