Promoter Eddie Hearn came up with a unique concept to embarrass Deontay Wilder but some fans are not buying it.
Boxing is very much an international, global sport, continuing to return to popularity bit by bit. That much is beyond question in fairness.
But having said that, some would argue that boxing is still a very niche sport in the United States.
Particularly given the large population in the country and the choice of so many other main stream sports to watch other than just boxing.
Or combat sports period, for that matter.
With a potential cross-Atlantic heavyweight title unification fight being talked about a lot at the moment between American Deontay Wilder and UK native Anthony Joshua, the above topic has come up again and agan after a rather interesting move by Joshua’s promoter this week.
Promoter Eddie Hearn took to the streets of New York to ask local folks did they know who the American born heavyweight champion of the world Deontay Wilder is?
From a sample of two people on IFL TV YouTube (hat tip) – the answer was a no:
The question has to be asked however, is this a fair judge of the entire American public’s knowledge of Wilder? Of course not.
But it’s brought about an enormous amount of debate from fans from either side of the pond:
Tbf America is a lot fecking bigger than the UK.
— Anthony (@ThantonMenace) November 8, 2017
Eddie is brutal knows how to use social media to stir it up love it
— David Lane (@Daviddd_L) November 8, 2017
Heavyweight Champ of America…. Massive star ? pic.twitter.com/RqpgmbE2ao
— Birdy (@cjbird9474) November 9, 2017
What a guy Eddie is ? Absolutely ruining wilder in his own country. The man needs to be knighted.
— Mark Perry (@Mark_Perry92x) November 9, 2017
I think he knows Boxing is no where near as big in the states as it is in the UK, nice petty move
— ✈️James LeBlanc IV✈️ (@Corp_Vision_IV) November 8, 2017
Nobody in my office knew who Canelo or GGG where and I’m at Nike, it’s insane, in UK all lads would be able to talk about that fight.
— Portland Toffee (@davidgibb88) November 9, 2017
I’m from NY and Its a NFL, Baseball and basketball City. This is not a small pond like England. There are 4 major professional sports that takes precedence over boxing.
— Maurice (@Beffiosa) November 9, 2017
@BronzeBomber, @EddieHearn thinks @anthonyfjoshua‘s more famous than you because if you ask someone on the street in England they’d know who AJ is. Bearing in mind UK is 240 thousand square miles and USA’s 10 million square miles with 259,565,100 million more people living there.
— modoZaffa (@modozaffa) November 9, 2017
