By Scott Gilfoid: Eddie Hearn is expressing confidence that the huge heavyweight unification fight between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder will take place before the end of the year. Hearn says he’s spoken with Showtime and Wilder’s adviser Al Haymon and he likes the chances of it happening.
Hearn plans on meeting with Joshua and his trainer Rob McCracken on Thursday to discuss the future fights.
Matchroom Boxing wiz Hearn says the negotiations have started with Wilder’s management, but that doesn’t mean that the fight will happen. The purse split of the revenue is going to be what makes this fight. Wilder has already agreed to fight Joshua in the UK, so that doesn’t need to be hammered out. It’s the money.
If Hearn and Joshua only offered Wilder a small 70-30 purse split, it’s not likely that he’s going to agree to that. Wilder is going to bring in a lot of boxing fans to this fight, which could take place in a large stadium in either Cardiff or London, and he naturally is going to want to share in the loot. If it’s one-way with only Joshua getting the green stuff, then Wilder will likely go in another direction.
Joshua will have to be satisfied with owning 3 of the 4 heavyweight titles and not all of them. Wladimir Klitschko never was able to capture all 4 of the heavyweight titles. Wladimir obviously would have if his brother Vitali Klitschko didn’t hold the WBC title for five years from 2008 to 2013 during the time he had 3 of the titles. If Vitali hadn’t held the WBC title for all those five years, Wladimir would have easily captured all four of the titles. Wladimir wasn’t going to fight his brother. So, even if Joshua does win all four of the heavyweight belts, it’s not a big deal, because Wladimir would have done it with ease if his brother Vitali didn’t hold the WBC title for so many years during his reign as the IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight champion.
Hearn seems to think that if Joshua and Wilder don’t face each other in 2018, then it won’t be a full unification fight with all the belts on the line if it takes place in 2019. The sanctioning bodies usually allow the champions to put off mandatory defenses when there’s a unification fight at stake, especially when it’s a huge unification fight. If Hearn really wants the Joshua-Wilder fight, he could make it next, but he seems to be angling for a Joshua vs. Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller match-up for the summer, which kind of shows you were his head is at. Miller is co-promoted by Hearn.
There’s no reason why Joshua must face Miller in the summer. That fight can take place AFTER the Joshua-Wilder fight not before. If anyone is to blame for the Wilder-Joshua fight not taking place in 2018, you must look at Hearn. There’s no reason on earth why Joshua should be wasting time fighting the 300 lb. Miller in the summer. That’s just a stay busy fight for Joshua, and it’s not going to create a huge fan base for him in the U.S, because Miller is an unknown. He’s not a star in America. He’s just some guy that beats up on journeyman and lower ranked contenders like Gerald Washington and Mariusz Wach.
“Anthony wants the fight and I’m very confident it will happen,” Hearn said to skysports.com. “I called Al Haymon’s team yesterday and spoke with Showtime last night and discussions are ongoing. I will say it once again, the window for fighting Wilder is 2018, otherwise we will risk it not being an undisputed fight,” Hearn said.
Joshua, 28, needs to put the pressure on Hearn if he really wants that fight with Wilder, because if he doesn’t, he’s going to wind up facing ‘Big Baby’ Miller in the summer, and then either Alexander Povetkin or Dillian Whyte at the end of the year. If Joshua puts enough pressure on Hearn to make the Wilder fight, then it can certainly happen in the summer. For that to happen, Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs) has to really want the fight with Deontay, and I don’t know that he does. The timid look that Joshua had on his face last weekend in his unification fight against WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker, I don’t think he’s mentally ready to take on a ferocious puncher like Deontay.
You’ve got to have confidence to face a devastating knockout artist like Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs), and I just don’t see that confidence coming from Joshua. He seems like a guy that is trying to hold onto his titles the best way he can by becoming a boxer and using movement to try and protect his shaky chin and his poor conditioning. Joshua looked in great shape last Saturday night, but he looked winded at times, and he kept having tape problems that gave him badly needed rest breaks. Heck, Joshua even called his own timeout at one point to have his tape repaired. He didn’t look at the referee to ask for permission for the timeout. Joshua called the timeout on his own accord. I’ve never seen a fighter do that before until Joshua did last Saturday. It looked bad, bad.
Last Monday, Wilder accepted Joshua’s challenge, saying, “I accept that challenge and I am ready to come to the UK for my next fight. There is nothing on Team Wilder’s side to prevent me from fighting you next.”
Hearn almost immediately responded to this message from Deontay by saying that he doubts that he really wants the fight. I don’t know why but Hearn chose to be skeptical about what Wilder was saying rather than seeing him as being sincere. I don’t know why Hearn would be so negative about Deontay saying he’s accepted Joshua’s challenge. A good promoter would be happy at hearing that news if they were truly interested in making a fight between these two heavyweight champions. Of course, we don’t know whether Hearn really wants Joshua to fight Wilder, do we?