Hunter claims Joshua doesn’t want any smoke
Heavyweight Michael Hunter is in action on May 25th in Oxon Hill, Maryland as he takes on Fabio Maldonado which can be seen live on the streaming service DAZN.
The five-fight card will have in action the newest signee to Matchroom Boxing Devin Haney as well as a women’s unification bout between Jessica McCaskill and Anahi Esther Sanchez for the WBC and WBA Super Lightweight titles.
In an interview he had with iFL TV, Hunter discussed several topics and most importantly the one about him being denied the opportunity to face WBA, WBO and IBF champion, Anthony Joshua. His name was one of several in the running (and one that I hinted at) once Jarrell Miller was off the card for failing multiple drug tests.
He responded to why they didn’t choose him for the title opportunity with the following:
“I think I’m just a difficult fight you know, especially to have a pro debut in the United States. I just think it would be just a little difficult to perform in the way that they wanted for Anthony Joshua to come out on his pro debut in America…he would just have some big problems.”
Call me Eddie. https://t.co/1ck4qYJA19
— Michael Hunter ll (@MichaelHunterII) April 17, 2019
He also confirmed that he did not receive any offers for the fight as well.
“They didn’t want the smoke,” he answered frankly.
Him mentioning the style clash confirms what I mentioned during the Crawford vs. Khan preview episode of the podcast about how he could cause problems for Joshua if he was picked to replace Miller. He wasn’t however and the replacement picked was Andy Ruiz Jr. for that fight on June 1st at Madison Square Garden.
Hunter says he is “like crisis control when it comes to Eddie (Hearn) and DAZN” in terms of saving fight cards for the promotion. He took the fight against Alexander Ustinov on short notice as well and stopped him.
When questioned about looking for a stoppage against Maldonado this Saturday night he quipped, “The stoppage I feel like is going to come with the technique and the flawless performance that I put on, making sure everything is sharp and you know putting it all together.”
We’ll all get a chance to see the flawless performance take place starting at 7 p.m. ET Saturday night live on DAZN.
Marquis Johns is a unknown humorist and avid boxing fan. His love for the sweet science goes back to when matches were 15 rounds and has been covering fights since closed-circuit pay-per-views. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth is not only a quote by Mike Tyson, it's also a pretty good reminder to keep your guard up.
