By Scott Gilfoid: Anthony Joshua wants Deontay Wilder to put the financial situation aside and just sign the $15 million flat fee contract for them to face each other on April 13. IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Joshua says he would take the smaller money if he weren’t the A-side in the negotiations, so he wants Wilder to accept the smaller money for a fight against him.
Joshua states that Wilder probably has two or three more good years left in his career before it’s all over with for him. Wilder is currently 32-years-old and showing no signs of being over-the-hill. Joshua is 28, but he’s pretty much the same chronological age as Wilder due to his heavy bodybuilding physique, which will likely make it tougher on him as he gets older.
Joshua stubborn unwillingness to give Wilder a better deal than the take it or leave it $15 million flat fee offer made to him gives the indication that he’s ducking the fight with him. If you don’t want a fight, then making a ridiculous offer that you know your opponent will never agree to is one way of avoiding the fight.
“Me and Wilder is the best fight in the division right now, not me and Povetkin,” Joshua said to ESPN.com. “The deal to fight Wilder is still on the table, if it was written off I’d be very annoyed.”
With a potential money pot of $100 million on the line for April 13, Wilder might be the one that winds up being royally annoyed if he signs the contract for the Joshua fight. The deal that Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn wants Wilder to sign for is a $15 million flat fee. Hearn has already said the reason why he didn’t give Wilder a percentage deal is because he doesn’t believe that he rates one because he’s never made big money in the past.
Hearn points out that Wilder gets $2 million per fight, so he doesn’t rate getting a percentage deal. Hearn says that Wilder is making much more than he ever has before if he agrees to the $15 million flat fee. That’s true, of course, but Joshua will also be getting a career high payday if Wilder signs the contract for $15 million and the fight winds up making well above Hearn’s conservative $50 million estimate. Wilder can’t share in the revenue beyond the $15 million.
“If you believe it, then sign the contract and fight me,” Joshua said to Wilder. “Ultimately put finances aside but if you believe you are better than me and you have the chance to prove it here in the UK — it’s not just a UK thing it’s about global.”
So the idea is that Wilder sign for a fight against Joshua that could end up giving him only a small fraction of what the fight brings in, and he gets no rematch clause if he loses. Joshua really wants Wilder to sign for it, and he wants him to see the full picture of what he stands to gain if he wins the fight. Joshua doesn’t appear want Wilder to focus on how little he’ll be making in comparison to him. He wants him to look past that and think about the glory he’ll get if he wants.
I’m not sure what Wilder will be able to ignore the financials, because Joshua clearly isn’t. If Joshua wasn’t ignoring them, then he would have had Hearn give Wilder a percentage deal rather than a flat fee of $15 million. It kind of makes sense for Wilder to focus on the money if he’s helping bring in all the boxing fans to purchase the match on PPV, and to help sell tickets for the 100,000 seat Wembley Stadium on April 13 next year.
Joshua says he’s looking past his fight against Alexander Povetkin (34-1, 24 KOs), and he just wants the fight against Wilder. However, Joshua doesn’t appear to be doing anything to increase the chances of the Wilder fight taking place. If Joshua wants to increase the chances of the Wilder fight taking place, then he needs to give his promoter Eddie Hearn his marching orders of having him sweeten the $15 million flat fee, which might not be more than 15 percent of the money for the fight. Offering Wilder a potential 85-15 split isn’t a serious offer, is it? That’s what some boxing fans call a ‘sucker’s offer’ to Wilder. That would have to be one of the worst financial deals in memory involving a mega-fight between two world champions.
If Joshua is daring himself to be great, then he needs to come up with a better deal for the Wilder fight to get made. If Joshua wants that fight, he needs to come up with a percentage split that Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) will agree to. He’s obviously not agreeing to the $15 million offer from Hearn. That offer is dead in the water. The sooner Joshua and Hearn understand that the better it is for them, as they’ll be able to get serious and give Wilder something he’ll agree to.