Former undisputed cruiser-weight and heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield believes that Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder would be a blockbuster bout and could elevate the sport to the level it reached during his tenure in the ring back in the 1990’s.
Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder can bring the heavyweight division back to its prime, according to former champion Evander Holyfield.
Joshua retained his WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight world titles by beating Alexander Povetkin last week, while Wilder puts his WBC belt on the line against Tyson Fury in December.
Holyfield had this to say on the subject in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday, where he is attending Friday’s World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) super-middleweight final between George Groves and Callum Smith.
“When boxing was going down Mike Tyson was the one who brought it back by knocking everyone out,” he said. “Everyone wanted to see who could handle that, and I was that guy.
“Now Joshua is a good fighter, knocking people out and everyone wants to see that. He’s got all these people, 100,000 people coming to his fight and that’s the first time in my life I’ve ever seen boxing draw so many people.
“Deontay isn’t skilful, but he can knock people out, and people want to see that too.
“I truly think they are,” he answered when asked if they could bring the division back to its prime.
“Boxing never died, you just got to understand that it’s not the most organised thing. If people actually came together and did it right it would probably be the biggest sport in the world but it hasn’t ever been done properly.”
Asked who would win a potential mega-fight between the two, Holyfield replied: “I don’t know. I think it will be a great fight, you’ve got one guy in Joshua who is a good classic boxer, but another in Deontay who knows a little but can do it well.
