24 December 2023 , 00:05
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Anthony Joshua refused to criticise Deontay Wilder after the American was beaten by Joseph Parker to leave their $100million double-header in tatters.
Joshua kept his end of the deal by stopping Otto Wallin with the Swede quitting on his stool after the end of the fifth round. But Wilder had been outpointed by Parker earlier in the evening to leave his two-fight deal with Joshua in the bin. Joshua, however, refused to condemn his rival despite losing out on another huge payday.
"I wasn’t watching, I was just focusing on myself for the whole fight week," he said. "I knew how important this fight was to me. I heard Deontay lost, so what. He will come back. Everything Deontay said about me, I could rip him apart right now but I’m going to take the higher ground and I hope he comes back. You can do anything just don’t give up, if he wants he can come back and fight another day.”
Anthony Joshua dominated Otto Wallin (Getty Images)Reflecting on his win, Joshua added: "I can't grade my performance, my team will judge that for me and the fans at home so I will leave it up to them. It wasn't a throwback fight, just another fight. I was telling everyone during the build-up that I had to focus on the man in front of me.
"All that history with Otto paid off today. I think the corner play a big role in what happens to their fighter so they can live to fight another day. I'm a fighter that has a special gift, today was my day. I'm searching for greatness, trying to improve. Ben Davison is a really great addition to my improvement."
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Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn had rather more to say about Wilder's defeat. “I’m just going to go and vomit, I’ll be back in 20 seconds,” joked Hearn. “We all know what we were working towards but I said in the build up that I didn’t rate him. Wilder had no idea, no clue.
"He was there at the end of the fight putting his hand up like he’d won. It’s ruined our plans but we’ve got to go and win now. If anyone is to ruin the plans, I’m delighted for Joseph Parker. It was the most one-sided heavyweight fight I’d seen."