By Scott Gilfoid: Anthony Joshua is expected to be back inside the ring in late March at the O2 Arena in London, UK, according to his promoter Eddie Hearn. Hearn is trying to put together a deal with promoter David Higgins for his fighter WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker to face Joshua in March.
Hearn is hopeful that the fight can get made, even though the two sides seem to be going back and forth over the percentage cut of the revenue.
Supposedly, Joshua had already outgrown the O2, but it looks like he’ll be going back there again. They can’t take the chance of staging the Joshua-Parker fight outdoors in March due to the possibility of inclement weather.
Higgins wanted a 60-40 cut when the negotiations first began, but he’s now down to 35 percent. That’s not a number that Hearn is agreeable to, as he sees Parker as bringing very little to the fight other than his WBO title.
It’s quite possible that Hearn will get Parker and his promoter David Higgins to agree to agree to a split halfway between 30 and 35. It might be 32 or 33 percent of the revenue. Hearn says that Parker can make a lot more in the rematch if he beats Joshua.
Getting a win over Joshua won’t be easy though unless Parker can get to his chin and take him out. It’s not realistic to assume that Parker will be able to beat Joshua by a decision. It won’t be a fight at a neutral venue unfortunately.
”We are certainly closer than we were. We have spoken a lot with their team and we are within touching distance, so it is just about getting all parties happy and agreed. I’m confident we will and the aim would be for the end of March,” said Hearn to the dailymail.co.uk.
If Joshua vs. Parker fight on March 24, then it’s possible that we could see the rematch between Tony Bellew and David Haye to take place on May 5th.
Hearn seems to think that Parker and his team aren’t serious about wanting to make the fight in 2018. He thinks that there’s a chance that Parker and his team are just trying to gain exposure my milking the negotiations for as long as possible so that the boxing public can keep hearing his name. Hearn thinks that eventually Parker will move on and face former WBA heavyweight champion Lucas Browne.
If the money isn’t fight for Parker, he’s likely going to move on for that reason rather than because he’s trying to gain as much attention as possible with the Joshua negotiations.