On Saturday night Anthony Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs) defeated Joseph Parker (24-1, 18 KOs) by unanimous decision in a heavyweight championship unification bout. The official cards from the judges seemed a bit wider than what transpired inside the ring, but all three judges scored it for Joshua with final scores of 119-109, 118-110, and 118-110. With the victory, Joshua added the WBO belt to his unified collection which already included the IBF and WBA portions of the crown. It was not a particularly exciting victory for Joshua, but he got the job done and did what he had to do to win.
This gives Joshua three of the four major belts in heavyweight boxing. The other belt belongs to reigning WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs). On March 3, Wilder scored a 10th round stoppage against Luis Ortiz in a fight where Wilder was having difficulties and displayed tremendous heart and determination to overcome adversity scoring the late round knockout. Ortiz had Wilder and some trouble during their bout, but Wilder dug down deep and showed championship heart – not unlike what Joshua did last year when he stopped long time champion Wladimir Klitschko.
With two undefeated heavyweight champions, both in their prime, and both talented but flawed – demand for a mega bout showdown between the two champions is at an all time high. The winner of a would-be match-up between Joshua and Wilder would produce the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis. It seems to be more a matter of WHEN rather than IF, in terms of this showdown coming to fruition. Hopefully the answer is sooner rather than later, because the time for the fight is right now, and this could well be an epic heavyweight rivalry in the making.
If Joshua and WIlder were to square off in their next bout, who would win? This edition of Rummy’s Corner explores the inevitable showdown between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder. Please watch the video for one man’s take on this exciting potential heavyweight clash.
