By Scott Gilfoid: Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn is feeling frustrated right now that he’s been unable to get a response from WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder’s management to start negotiating a fight for April 13 at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
With Hearn simply offering Wilder the same flat fee offer as before, he’s not showing interest. Hearn says Dillian Whyte is the leading candidate to get the Joshua fight for April 13. Joshua-Whyte 2 is a stale fight, to be sure, but it would be an easy one for Hearn to make because he promotes both guys.
Hearn has booked the huge 100,000 seat Wembey Stadium for Joshua’s fight on the 13th of April, but for him to get boxing fans to want to pay to see it in large numbers, they need a big name like the 6’7” Wilder. However, the problem that is likely keeping Wilder’s team from responding to Hearn’s e-mail is the fact that he’s saying that he’s offering him the same financial deal that he agreed to for a fight in September. Hearn failed to complete the negotiations unfortunately, as he quickly scheduled Joshua to defend against his World Boxing Association mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin on September 22.
“Absolutely nothing at all,” Hearn said to skysports.com when asked if he’s heard anything back from Wilder’s manager Shelly Finkel in response to his e-mail. “If there’s even a chance that an undisputed title fight could happen in April, you’ve got to at least talk about it.”
Well, if Hearn wants Wilder’s management to take him seriously, it would help if he gave him a percentage deal offer instead of a $15 million flat fee. I mean, that might sound like a lot of money, but it’s not when you realize that the Joshua vs. Wilder fight could take in $100 million+. That comes out to an 85-15 split in favor of Joshua if Wilder’s management accept the flat fee offer. You can argue that if Hearn was serious about wanting to make the Joshua-Wilder fight, he would offer him a percentage deal. Wilder wants a 50-50 split, but Hearn appears to be stuck on his original flat fee offer. In the end, being arguably stubborn and inflexible will keep Hearn from making the fight with Wilder. Of course, if Hearn doesn’t really want to make the Joshua vs. Wilder fight, then he’s doing a fine job of making sure the fight never happens.
“Making a fight when the fighters don’t particularly like each other is very difficult. But generally people are bright enough to swallow their pride, and get it done,” Hearn said. There’s a good chance.”
Hearn says that Dillian Whye and Jarrell Miller are the front runners to face Joshua on April 13. It’s likely that Joshua will face Whyte, and then Miller in his next fight after that. Wilder likely will continue to be offered flat fees offers, which suggests that Hearn isn’t serious about wanting to negotiate a fight involving him and Joshua.