LAS VEGAS — If you ask Deontay Wilder, he knew everything that was going to happen to former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua before it ever took place. And, according to the WBC heavyweight champion and his manager, Shelly Finkel, that’s not sour grapes. That’s just what it is.
Wilder and Joshua were once connected for a megafight that would unify the heavyweight titles between two of the biggest stars in the heavyweight division. Talks eventually broke down and saw both fighters move in different directions. Joshua ended up losing his heavyweight titles in shocking fashion when Andy Ruiz Jr. stopped him in June while Wilder engaged in a ferocious battle with Tyson Fury that elevated the profiles of both fighters.
For the time being, that highly anticipated clash of the titans is on the backburner as Joshua will look to reclaim his titles against Ruiz on Dec. 7 in Saudi Arabia while Wilder has a return bout with Luis Ortiz set for Saturday, Nov. 23, followed by a highly anticipated rematch with Fury slated for February of 2020.
If you ask Wilder, a fight with Joshua wasn't destined to be at the time when talks between the two camps originally began.
“He told me that Joshua wouldn’t fight him,” Finkel told DAZN in a sitdown interview earlier in the week. “I said, ‘Come on, we offered him $50 million!’ He truly believed that fight wasn’t going to happen and was already prepared to move on.”
Finkel still held out hope for a fight with Joshua when the Brit was making his U.S. debut against Andy Ruiz. Many thought that the Ruiz fight was a prelude to Joshua-Wilder, but Ruiz pulled off a stunning seventh-round TKO to derail those plans.
As Finkel addressed the breakdown in talks with Joshua, Wilder sat across from his manager and beamed a wide smile. Finkle caught the 6-7 fighter staring at him and smiled back.
“I tell people I have a sixth sense for these things,” Wilder said. “I’m big on energy, and I just felt deep down inside that it wasn’t going to be Joshua’s night.”
We all know what transpired on June 1, 2019.
“Deontay told me that night to not be surprised if he lost to Ruiz,” Finkel said. “I said, ‘To Ruiz?’ And Deontay said that he just had a feeling. He has an uncanny ability to speak things to fruition.”
Although Wilder didn’t say who would win the rematch between Ruiz and Joshua on Dec. 7, he has been vocal about pulling for Ruiz because it’s an easier fight to make considering both he and Ruiz are managed by Al Haymon.
But, in Wilder’s mind, the one thing you can count on is that there will be excitement in both his fight and the Ruiz-Joshua fight.
“Look at the heavyweight division right now, and you can honestly say that it’s the most exciting that it has been in decades,” Wilder said. “I’m just happy to be one of the kings of the division who will continue to make it exciting.”