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Los Angeles – World champion Deontay Wilder said on Thursday
the winner of his showdown with Tyson Fury can lay claim to being the best
heavyweight in boxing.
WBC champion Wilder faces off against Britain’s Fury at the
Staples Centre in Los Angeles on December 1 in a battle of undefeated fighters.
The winner of the fight could advance to a showdown with
Anthony Joshua, the IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight champion who is also unbeaten.
While many observers believe Joshua is the best heavyweight
in the division, Wilder is adamant that the 2012 Olympic champion does not even
deserve to be ranked in the top three.
Wilder, (40-0 with 39 knockouts), instead believes that he
and Fury, along with Cuba’s Luis Ortiz, are superior to Joshua.
“In my true, honest opinion I feel whoever wins this
can call themselves the best heavyweight champion of the world,” Wilder
told reporters on a conference call on Thursday.
Wilder, 33, accused Joshua of ducking the challenge of
fighting him.
Cat-and-mouse negotiations between the two camps fell
through earlier this year before Wilder opted to face Fury.
“We don’t have to keep going over this over and over
again about Anthony Joshua,” Wilder said. “They had their
opportunity. They had their chance to prove and see whether (Joshua) was the
goods, or whether he was spoiled milk.
“And they didn’t want to accept because they already
know what I possess and what I’m able to do. And they know that he’s not on my
level.”
Wilder meanwhile was unimpressed by Fury’s recent decision
to add veteran US trainer Freddie Roach into his corner.
Roach, one of boxing’s most famous trainers who guided Manny
Pacquiao through the Filipino’s biggest fights, is to work as a cut man for
Fury, who has recently shifted his pre-fight training to Roach’s Wild Card gym
in the heart of Hollywood.
Wilder however questioned how much influence Roach would
have on the contest.
“It doesn’t matter what trainer he brings in – they
can’t fight for him,” Wilder said.
“They can give him instructions, they can motivate him.
But there’s only one man when you get in that ring. It ain’t no team thing when
you’re in the ring. It’s just me and him.
“Everything he’s been taught and learnt it’s going to
go out the window.”
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