To be honest I didn't have a lot of confidence it was going to be done
because there was some weird stuff going on like Shelly would let the media know
about an email he was gonna send before he sent it
like and I was I was having
lunch er breakfast this morning with one of the big network guys over here and
said I could have told you that fight was never gonna happen you don't make a
fight over the internet you don't tell the media every step of the negotiations
once you get close to a fight this size keep your mouth shut when you work
quietly behind scenes to try and get it done so I was never that confident that
the fight would get made my biggest concern is making a fight like this too
late and I think you look at mayweather-pacquiao and although they
maximized every dollar in that fight it didn't really happen in the prime of
their careers I don't think that's a problem with Joshua by the way he's
3 years away from his prime so but he'll fight anyone as he has done his whole
career that's the remarkable thing about Anthony Joshua. Wilder is I guess in his
prime but so I wouldn't worry about this fight not happening in their primes
because there's gonna be too much pressure but fans should be putting
pressure now on Deontay Wilder saying okay I mean even like, Hearn's a prick
yeah fuck Hearn but whatever you think of me let's just deal with what I said, it's
there so do you want the fight or not you can't now turn around and say I'm only
taking you on 50-50 and yet you're sulking on Instagram saying that no one wants to
fight you the terms that you agreed are in front of you to sign to become the
undisputed heavyweight champion of the world so unless he just doesn't want the
fight at all I'm very confident that this fight will
get made in his in his prime because really you look at the landscape
Povetkin's number three in the world he's the man the truth very tough fighter
and I've said enough I don't like the Povetkin fight not for any other
reason of it being you know a great fight which it is, it's a very very tough
fight it's probably the toughest fight of Joshua's career so far up there with
Klitschko yet you have this undisputed fighter that everyone's
waiting for and we're the ones jumping in the tough tough fights against
the very best in the world once again so I want this fight to happen you know
people say you're holding this fight back
you can accuse me for many things many will accuse me for wanting to make too
much money if I wanted to make too much money
why wouldn't I make the Wilder fight that's the biggest money fight in boxing so we
want to get there but we have a plan with Anthony Joshua and the plan is very
simple it's an 8 to 10 year plan of complete domination of the division at
every step so far has been perfect this is the biggest star in world boxing
unquestionably and he will go on to dominate the sport for years and years
to come so Wilder ya know Wilder is a jumbo jet in
the heavyweight division circling around circling around and Anthony Joshua owns
the airspace and he will tell you when it's your time to land and he told
Wilder it's your time to land but he couldn't find the gear sticks to land
but he can still find them he doesn't have to find them today it
doesn't have to be tomorrow it can be in one month or two months cause we're fighting Povetkin next
and he'll fight Breazeale or someone like that and and it can be
made but I was never like at no point did I think I mean the only time I
thought well this could happen is when they asked for the contract and then we
sent it but then it was like you know I've been here and then the Monday they
came out after they emailed us saying oh we're gonna send the comments on Friday
but we know the comments I don't I don't get it nothing really added up
smart people who know the game all said to us they're playing games they
messing you around but it's frustrating when the fans will accuse don't mind
accusing me I'm a promoter that's what I'm here for
but fighters, just look at the resume but Wilders shown no desire to
fight significant opponents or opposition for years and years and years and Joshua
has in 21 fights so I just think you need to keep the pressure on keep the
pressure on that's what fans do that's what they're
there for ultimately the fans are the ones who decide the future of finances
because they want to see great fighters Joshua
Povetkin is a great fight let's see who Wilder fights next. If it's Breazeale, ok he's
top-10 but Joshua knocked him out in six rounds three years ago.
When I talked about the Povetkin fight the reason that's a tough fight, one we know his
pedegree, he's an Olympic gold medalist he has one defeat on his record to Vladimir
Klitschko who by the way hit him with absolutely everything including the
kitchen sink and couldn't stop him so we know he has a great engine he's a great
puncher we saw that in a David Price defeat last time out and he flattened him
a he's smaller than Joshua and he has that sort of dipping style where he throws that
big left hooks over the top he's extremely tough like I said he has a
great pedigree he's number three in the world rankings with Ring Magazine and
again whatever you think about politics and governing bodies the Ring mag is the
Bible. Anthony Joshua is number one, Deontay Wilder is number two Alexander
Povetkin is number three you know what before Povetkin was number three it
was Joseph Parker, Joshua beat him as well so now he's going to be the new
number three and then hopefully we get to number two which is Wilder so but
again you know you're gonna go into this fight with everyone saying ahh you just
gotta beat him and then the Wilder fights on and that brings a pressure within
itself you know the pressure of potentially losing your focus on
Povetkin and thinking about Wilder you can't do that in the Povetkin fight
I think Povetkin could beat Wilder I think it might even be a tougher fight for
Joshua than Wilder while the punch is harder as soon as Joshua hits Wilder on
the chin it's over he won't let him off the leash like Ortiz did you couldn't
stand up against Ortiz was it the sixth round I mean he was gone and by the
way showed a lot heart but for me the risk might be higher in terms of the KO
against Wilder but Povetkin is going to be in there he's gonna be fighting until
the end he's got a better chin than Wilder and I don't see the Wilder as
outside of the risk of the one punch KO I don't see it technically as
anywhere near as difficult as Povetkin. It's going to be sweet when Wilder
fights Joshua because you know I favor Joshua massively in that fight.