Wilder makes shocking revelation in the build up to Joshua, Usyk rematch

American heavyweight boxer, Deontay Wilder has revealed that British boxing promoter, Eddie Hearn doubted Anthony Joshua's ability to defeat Oleksandr Usyk prior to their rematch.

Two-time heavyweight champion, Joshua failed in his quest to reclaim his lost belts at the packed King Abdullah Sports Arena in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, August 20.

Joshua lost again to the pound-for-pound Ukrainian champion via split decision, a contest many pundits believe it was an improved performance from Joshua compared to the first bout in September 2021.

Wilder, who is set to return to the ring on October 15 against Robert Helenius of Finland has disclosed that he received an offer from Eddie Hearn before Joshua's clash with Usyk which indicates that the promoter doubted his client's ability to beat the 35-year-old Ukrainian.

“Eddie Hearn came to us, after everything is over with my fight, talking about offering a deal, Wilder told ESNews

“My thing is we’re busy. For me, it’s easy to see what was going on. Boxing’s solely a business, it’s not a sport. It’s strictly a business.

“But he was trying to contact us for reassurance. All of a sudden you want to make a fight because even you don’t have confidence in your own fighter that he was going to win.

“For me, he was trying to make a deal to ensure he can lock something in but the thing about it is when you lose that price goes up. He ain’t going to get no solid deal locked in. We’re not stupid, when you’re.”

Last Saturday's defeat was Joshua's third career defeat. The 32-year-old suffered his first defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr in June 2019 and then back-to-back defeats to Usyk in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

WDN