ANTHONY JOSHUA has taken Deontay Wilder to task after claims by the Bronze Bomber’s former promoter, Lou DiBella.
Following Wilder’s draw with Tyson Fury in 2018, DiBella was thrown out of the American’s camp in a move he believes was down to exploring the possibility of fighting AJ.
DiBella (right) is no longer part of Wilder’s campCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Joshua is again looking for a fight with Wilder or Fury after downing Andy Ruiz JrCredit: Reuters
A meeting with the Brit’s US broadcaster DAZN was arranged by DiBella, he has now revealed.
That led to the offer of a three-fight deal, including Wilder’s mandatory fight with Dominic Breazeale and two Joshua bouts.
But Wilder snubbed the chance in a show of faith to rival American channels Fox and Showtime, who are tied to his manager Al Haymon.
Joshua evidently feels that the truth is now finally out about whether it was his camp or Wilder that pulled the plug.
And he took aim at Wilder, DiBella and Co in a post on Instagram that read: “When the loyalty’s gone, the truth shall prevail.”
Earlier in the week, the 59-year-old claimed that his exile for talking to DAZN was “perverse”.
DiBella told iFLTV: “My relationship professionally as a promoter for Deontay Wilder and working with his team ended when I set up the DAZN meeting, which is perverse.
“What did I do? I tried to talk to everyone in the marketplace and make a best effort to make the most money for a guy that I cared about.
“Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”
Fans were quick to give their take on who was to blame for the fight not taking place, with Wilder now set to face Fury for a rematch next month after beating Luis Ortiz.
One Twitter user wrote: “The truth is Wilder don’t want this fight.”
Another was more sceptical, commenting: “Ok & he got fired for playing manager & advisor when he’s just a promoter that didn’t have a contract with Wilder… so I’m not sure what Joshua is insinuating.”
But Luke wrote: “DiBella wasn’t in a position to make that call to be fair, but either way regardless of who is holding up who, the fight should have been made quite a while ago. This blame game is getting repetitive.”
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Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
