Deontay Wilder has offered his take on Anthony Joshua fighting Jake Paul, and the former heavyweight champion did not hold back.
Speaking to The Action Network, Wilder said he understands why the bout exists, why fans will watch it, and why many fighters remain frustrated by it.
Joshua meets Paul on 19 December in Miami in an eight-round professional contest.
The fight has split boxing fans, with some seeing it as entertainment and others arguing Joshua should be chasing names like Tyson Fury or Wilder himself.
Wilder made it clear he sees why the event has so much traction.
“If people want to see things and they’re willing to pay the money to see it, then hey, why not?” Wilder said. “It is what it is. These are the times and the generation that we’re living in.”
He also pointed out how influencers like Paul have shifted the sport’s landscape.
“Of course, you got these guys coming in and they do a hell of a job of marketing themselves, bringing fights,” Wilder said.
“It draws attraction, it draws attention. If you can build a system where you can fight anybody and hype it up to make it where people buy it, then there you go.”
Wilder added that fans will always look for the spectacle.
“They’re gonna look for a fight, they wanna see knockouts, they wanna see all that,” he said.
“But for an average fighter that knows the ropes and knows how hard it is to get to certain levels and stages… they’re all mad. They’re mad, they’re mad, and I understand.”
Concerns over Joshua’s legacy
Joshua has not fought since his 2024 loss to Daniel Dubois, and Wilder believes this matchup carries risk far beyond the result.
“It’s all about how they advertise and promote this thing,” he said. “If Joshua goes in and promotes like this is the opportunity of a lifetime, to get to a title fight or something like that… this is not a qualification for that.
“If he goes in there and gets knocked out in a dramatic way or something like that, it will hurt his legacy,” he said. “That’s something that people are always gonna go back and look at the highlight reel.
“He can recover from that though, go on and do great things after that,” Wilder said. “It is all about him and what he does from there.”
Wilder described the event as entertainment first.
“I just look at these opportunities as fun – fun opportunities for the masses of the fans – and a money grab. That’s all I look at it as.”
Wilder vs Joshua still alive?
Wilder also insisted the long-discussed fight between him and Joshua remains possible.
“Even when you said that, I don’t feel like people would use Joshua vs Paul and stop my fight with Joshua from happening,” he said. “I think they’ll wanna see anyway.”
Wilder returned to winning ways in June, stopping Tyrrell Anthony Herndon after losses to Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang. The door remains open for a long-awaited meeting with Joshua, even as AJ prepares for one of the most unusual fights of his career.
