"Deontay Wilder will be relieved of that belt in 2018."
Eddie Hearn was adamant that the WBC heavyweight champion would not be able to hang on to his title in the coming calendar year but, in reality, the American will not be next up for Anthony Joshua following the Brit's victory over Carlos Takam in Cardiff.
The most likely scenario is a meeting of Wilder and Dillian Whyte, who won the vacant WBC Silver heavyweight title in Saturday night's co-main event, with the winner going on to face 'AJ'.
Hearn insisted that he even had a date in place for Whyte vs. Wilder and has given 'The Bronze Bomber' two weeks to accept the offer.
"If Deontay Wilder will travel there's an easy fight to be made on February 3 for the WBC title in London," Hearn said. "It opens up the division because this is where it's at, in the UK."
https://twitter.com/JOE_co_uk/status/924615549988016128
But Wilder continues to bang the drum for the bigger payday which is a unification clash with Joshua and the outspoken Alabama native took a swipe at the undefeated Englishman in the wake of Joshua's stoppage victory at the Principality Stadium.
"He definitely has stamina problems, we saw that in the Klitschko fight," Wilder said of Joshua, via
Fighthype.
"If I was him, whoever his stamina coach is, they need to be fired.
"There are a lot of things that Joshua is doing wrong that's making him have those stamina problems."
Prior to this weekend's bout, suggestions were made that the fact that Joshua had weighed in at a career heaviest 18st 2lbs would translate to a more limited fuel tank but he didn't gas on Saturday to the extent that he did against Klitschko in April.
Sure, there were stages when the output slowed but, for the most part, 'AJ' was able to keep a breathless pace with Takam.
But Wilder, who defends his title against Bermane Stiverne next weekend, has a familiar of criticism of Joshua.
"Stay off those weights," Wilder continued.
"He works out way too much, all those muscles can be so heavy, it look good but does it really benefit you though.
"The muscles, they look good, but this is boxing... this ain’t weightlifting."
