Wilder takes care of business!

AP Photo/Kevin Hagen

The biggest bout in the boxing challenge featured the biggest men as Deontay Wilder blew away the only fighter to have lasted the distance with him in just one round as Wilder crushed Bermane Stiverne in their rematch in Brooklyn.
Stiverne, who had fought just one time since his first bout with Wilder, appeared out of shape and didn't land any of the four punches that he threw at Wilder, proved that his top ranking in the WBC was as farcical as it appeared and it appeared that the skills that he once possessed that helped him take Wilder the distance were gone and he needs to retire.
As for Wilder, he did exactly what champions do when you are forced to fight undeserving challengers- dispatch them quickly and impressively as three knockdowns and leaving your opponent unconscious showed in this one.

I've been hard on Wilder's competition in the past and this didn't change that, but it's pretty clear that the time is right for Wilder to step up (or someone to step up and fight him) for a big fight.
Wilder made a lot of noise after the fight about fighting Anthony Joshua and I do believe that he wants that fight badly-mainly because it would prove who the best heavyweight is and bring Wilder the largest payday of his career- especially if Wilder is willing to go to the UK where the fight would sell out an 80,000 seat stadium.
However, is there anything more overdone in boxing than "calling out opponents"that are promoted by someone else, therefore making the said fight difficult to make?
I'm not saying Wilder doesn't want Anthony Joshua, but calling him out doesn't prove anything and I am very weary of fighters from any stable, but especially from the notoriously difficult to deal with PBC talking about fights that they aren't willing to make a deal to close a contract.
Considering the options available for Joshua there (UK fighters that might make Joshua more money at lesser risk such as Tyson Fury, Dillion Whyte and the winner of the Tony Bellew-David Haye rematch) compared to the less than wonderful options available for Wilder, I'd be surprised if this fight happened next year and very surprised to see it happen in the next fight for either man.

As I wrote, Joshua has far more options than Wilder, but that doesn't mean Wilder doesn't have any.
Since Joshua has two belts (WBA and IBF) to Wilder's WBC title if this fight cannot be worked out.
I would go looking for the third champion in WBO champ Joseph Parker, who has not looked great in winning his title against Andy Ruiz or his first title defense vs Hughie Fury.
That fight makes a lot of sense as the winner can claim two titles as Joshua does, Parker is far more likely to come to the United States than Joshua is and Parker has even fewer options than Wilder does, although after his win over Fury, Parker too "called out" Joshua.
It's easy to see that calling out the man that brings the dollars and leverage to the table is much simpler than making the actual fight.

If Wilder (and for that matter Parker) can't make fights against Joshua or each other, I would try to keep them in the ring as much as possible fighting more often.
The heavyweight division is strong at the top with three champions and if Tyson Fury is ever able to return to the ring in a decent mindset, but where it is weakest is in legitimately strong contenders.
Dillon Whyte's biggest "win" was in a loss to Joshua, the same can be argued for Dominic Breazeale, Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller gets his first top 15 test next week on HBO, Kubrat Pulev has an injured shoulder, Carlos Takam has already been beaten by Joshua and Parker, Andy Ruiz hasn't fought since his very close loss to Parker and Luis Ortiz along with Alexander Povetkin cannot be trusted to pass PED tests before title fights and these are the best of the contenders.

Staying active against weaker challengers won't prove much more about Deontay Wilder than we already know from his past soft touches, but it will keep him in front of fans and with each impressive and preferably explosive win, the roar for a Joshua-Wilder showdown will increase.
Of course, we all would love to see this made as soon as the spring and I'm not calling for a "Marinade", but there could be a way to make this a bigger event on this side of the Atlantic and it would come with multiple wins.

The heavyweight division suddenly is exciting, if not filled with proven depth, and if we cannot see Joshua-Wilder soon, let's hope that we see more of them more often against what is available in the heavyweight division....

I'll be back later with the rest of the weekend in boxing...