By Scott Gilfoid: Promoter Eddie Hearn is still unhappy with WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker’s asking price for his revenue split for the unification fight against Anthony Joshua in early 2018.
Hearn says Parker is looking for a cash out fight with the money he’s asking for. For the record, Parker wants a 65-35 split, which puts him just slightly above the 75-25 split IBF mandatory challenger Carlos Takam received for his title fight with Joshua on October 28 in Cardiff, Wales. Parker wants 10 percent more than what Takam got, which would seem like a fair offer given that he’s the WBO heavyweight champion and not just a challenger. Hearn doesn’t see it that way. He feels that Parker won’t bring anymore boxing fans to see the fight than Takam did. As such, Hearn doesn’t want to give Parker the green that he and his promoter David Higgins of Duco Events are asking for.
“Parker’s demands are unrealistic, but we’re going to try and make it happen,” said Hearn to skysports.com. “But Deontay Wilder is on cloud nine. I mean he’s never fought anybody. You’ve got to understand, Anthony Joshua is making 10 times per fight what Wilder is making, and he wants to make the same money that Anthony Joshua is making in that fight,” said Hearn complaining.
Oh my, doesn’t Hearn sound tight-fisted? Hearn comes across like he’s giving out alms for the poor. As you can see, Hearn is going to be a problem in making either of the important unification fights happen for the young Joshua. It might be in Joshua’s best interest to add another negotiator with a more level head to work on the Parker and Wilder negotiations.
I don’t think Hearn is going to be able to get the job done. He seems to be a little hard-headed, stubborn and intractable in my opinion. Deontay has more than negotiator on his team. He has Shelly Finkel and Al Haymon. It’s not just 1 guy dragging his feet and blabbering around money. Haymon and Finkel have been around for a while, and they know how to put fights together.
It would be a shame if Joshua never gets a chance to fight for the WBC and WBO heavyweight straps due to Hearn making a big production about the purse splits for the fight. The reality is that Parker isn’t asking for much in wanting a 65-35 split. It’s not as if he’s asking for parity with Joshua. He’s giving the guy almost a 3 to 1 cut of the green. It’s not quite 3 to 1, but it’s pretty close. In Wilder’s case, he wants a 50-50 deal with Joshua. Wilder understands how big the Joshua-Wilder fight will be in terms of attracting boxing fans, and he of course wants to share in the money that he helps bring in. You can certainly understand that.
”Wilder is on relatively low money, he’s not a draw in the US right now. They all want the Joshua fight. It’s everybody’s cash-out fight,” said Hearn.
See what I mean about Hearn having the wrong attitude when it comes to negotiating the Wilder and Parker fights for big Joshua. Hearn sees it as him giving money to Wilder and Parker that they don’t deserve. With an attitude like that, those fighters are never going to get made. Hearn needs to do the right thing to please Parker, his promoter Higgins and Deontay if he wants Joshua to have a chance to fight for the WBC and WBO heavyweight straps.