Hall Of Famer Urges Anthony Joshua To Stop Chasing After Wilder

Boxing Hall of Famer, Barry McGuigan has urged Nigerian-born British heavyweight boxer, Anthony Joshua to stop chasing after booking a fight with American boxer Deontay Wilder.

Over the months, there have been a series of speculations that the camps of Joshua and Wilder are negotiating a bout between the two enterprising boxers.

After losing their respective titles and being unable to compete for a heavyweight title, Joshua and Wilder appear to have finally decided to fight in December or early next year.

Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn told Boxing Social that the hard-hitting American boxer is still very much the target of his client despite the difficulty of having to reach an official agreement on the location and other details of the much-anticipated bout.

Hearn also claimed that Joshua is open to fighting against another opponent in December if Wilder and his client fail to agree on their fight on time.

On the other hand, Wilder is said to be looking forward to the fight against the Nigerian-born British boxer and he is said not to be considering any other opponent for now.

While former featherweight champion McGuigan told Boxing King Media that he is disappointed that Joshua and Wilder had not fought after the series of back and forth. He however urged Joshua not to risk fighting Wilder when he can fight Tyson Fury or Oleksandr Usyk who are currently title holders.

The Hall of Famer said, “It’s disappointing (that Joshua hasn’t reached an agreement to fight Wilder), but if I’m managing Anthony Joshua I wouldn’t go near Wilder. Wilder has got tremendous power. I know he’s vulnerable and he’s been stopped and all of that sort of stuff by Fury, he has the sort of punch that he can hit you from the back of the room and knock your head off.

“Why would you take the risk of that? I don’t think it’s a bad idea to avoid it, certainly at this stage. If I were him I’d want to win the world title again, so either fight Fury or fight Usyk again.”