WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder has said that Anthony Joshua and his camp were considering hiring extra security for his planned trip to watch Saturday’s heavyweight title fight between the British Olympian and Joseph Parker.
Wilder was initially scheduled to attend the fight as part of Sky Sports commentary team but the American has since reneged on his invitation citing Sky Sports’ alleged reluctance of having him square off with Joshua should the Briton defeat Parker.
“I’m not making the trip now. I was looking forward to it,” Wilder said during an interview with Good Morning Football.
“Sky Sports hired me to come over and I said I’d come on one condition: If AJ wins then I would get in front of the ring, size him up and tell him I wanted to knock him out.
“Sky Sports told me they could make it happen. They said it wouldn’t be problem then a couple of days later I get a phone call from my manager saying it’s not going to be possible. And I said I couldn’t come if it wasn’t possible.”
“They said AJ didn’t want it to happen and had hired extra security, I even heard something about a restraining order!
“Joshua didn’t want to hype the fight. But this is one of the biggest heavyweight title fights in history.”
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed that Wilder had been invited to Saturday’s fight but questioned if the 32-year-old really wanted to attend.
“He [Wilder] said ‘I must be in the ring after’ and we said ‘yeah, you’ll probably be invited,’ but it’s not a script,” Hearn told ESPN.
“You don’t get in the ring at this time. Anthony will probably call you into the ring, but it’s not like we’re announcing a fight.
“He’s was going to work for Sky. I mean he would have been a yard from Anthony Joshua as he’s getting interviewed but he just didn’t fancy it. Dillian Whyte’s there as well.
“He would have been calling Wilder’s name out. ‘Wladimir Klitschko, he said he wanted the fight, he signed a contract. Joseph Parker, he said he wanted the fight, he signed the contract.
“The others sometimes use Anthony Joshua’s name to give themselves profile, but the reality is do they really want it? If they did, he’d be here this Saturday.
“The entire world’s boxing media and sporting media will be there on Saturday. It would have been massive for Deontay Wilder’s profile to be there, but for some reason he doesn’t want to be there, make of that what you will.
“That tells me one thing, he doesn’t really want this fight.”
Should Joshua beat Parker on Saturday, he will claim the WBO title and become a three-belt heavyweight champion.
