Wilder On Hearn 'Classless' Quip: I Feel The Same Way About Him
By Jake Donovan
Whereas most in the industry offered words of encouragement in longtime rival Anthony Joshua’s darkest professional hour, Deontay Wilder chose to pour gasoline on the flames.
The unbeaten heavyweight titlist had plenty to say about Joshua’s shocking 7th round knockout loss to Andy Ruiz, immediately taking to social media shortly after witnessing one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight title fight history.
Most chose to acknowledge Ruiz’s feat, becoming the first boxer ever of Mexican descent to claim a piece of the heavyweight throne. Wilder would eventually get around to congratulating the newly crowned unified heavyweight titlist, but not before disparaging the exiting champ.
“He wasn’t a true champion,” Wilder (41-0-1, 40KOs) tweeted mere moments after England’s Joshua was ruled unfit to continue following the fourth knockdown of Saturday’s fight at New York City’s famed Madison Square Garden. “His whole career [has] consisted of lies, contradictions and gifts.
“Facts and now we know who was running from who!”
The last line was in regards to the two chasing one another for the better part of the past two years. A clash of unbeaten heavyweights in their respective primes for the undisputed heavyweight championship is the type of fight that could have soared the sport to new heights—or actually old ones, to a time when boxing was second only to Major League Baseball in overall popularity.
That dream burst in flames once referee Michael Griffith ruled that Joshua—who remained in a neutral corner upon being instructed to continue—was unfit to proceed, stopping the fight midway through round seven. It was a United States debut to forget for the Brit, one which ended in the worst way possible if you ask the division’s sole remaining unbeaten titlist.
“The worst thing you can do in life is [f]u***** [q]uit,” Wilder exclaimed.
His social media posts eventually shared with Joshua’s team, including promoter Eddie Hearn—who to his credit stuck around and didn’t offer any excuses in answering every last question. Included among them, his thoughts on Wilder’s post-fight reaction.
“Deontay Wilder has zero class for kicking Joshua while he is down,” Hearn told reporters after Saturday’s fight.
The retort didn’t at all seem to faze his intended target, other than doubling down on his original statement.
“I feel the same way about him,” Wilder said of Hearn when read back the promoter’s “classless” claim during a recent segment of Sirius XM At The Fights. “He’s been classless the whole time. That’s why the fight never happened. Of course… his guy getting beat, he’s gonna wish bad on me. That’s natural. In life, people have wished bad things on me. That don’t mean nothing to me.
“Hopefully this can be a lesson learned for (Hearn). He allowed the biggest fight in the world to not happen. He allowed Joshua to miss out on $50 million. I told Joshua that personally. I told him, you’re going to regret allowing someone to dictate your career.”
Despite Saturday’s loss and the two heading in different directions—Joshua enforcing his rematch clause to once again face Ruiz (33-1, 22KOs) later this year, while Wilder loaded up with rematches of his own versus Luis Ortiz (31-1, 26KOs) and unbeaten Tyson Fury (27-0-1, 19KOs), there remains hope of a Wilder-Joshua clash one day coming to fruition.
It just won’t happen under present circumstances or at all mirror past negotiations.
“I blame it on (Hearn),” Wilder insists of the fight not yet happening. “Why this fight didn’t happen… because that could’ve been me (instead of Ruiz). They knew that. He could’ve had a loss on his record a long time ago.
“I’m going to be a champion for a long time I still go on. Hearn is going to be salty. May God be with him. Hopefully Joshua will come up and… I advise him to find somebody else.”
