By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom promtoer Eddie Hearn thinks that the latest attempt by Top Rank boss Bob Arum to sign WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder to his stable is ultimately making Wilder’s longtime adviser Al Haymon look bad, because he’s been with him him for a while now and had him fighting on SHOWTIME.
Hearn sees Wilder (40-0-1, 39 KOs) considering his options and saying he’s a free agent as a move that makes Haymon look bad. For the average boxing fan, they don’t care about who Wilder signs with, as long as he’s matched against quality opposition wherever he goes. If that means that Top Rank can get him the best fights, then so be it.
Hearn makes it sound like he thinks Haymon is a promoter. He’s a manager, not a promoter, and he’ll likely continue with Wilder wherever he goes in terms of promotional companies. Hearn need not gloat too much, as it doesn’t appear that Wilder is going to be signing with Arum’s Top Rank Boxing promotional company. The latest news is Wilder is staying pat with Haymon and SHOWTIME.
“Really, Arum’s mugging Haymon off right now,” Hearn said to Fighthype. “‘Yeah, come and be on ESPN, I’ll send you an offer. You know, multi-fight offer, come and sign with Top Rank,’ Hearn said in imitating Arum. “Haymon will hate the thought of Wilder going to Top Rank and ESPN. And so will [SHOWTIME executive Stephen] Espinoza.”
Hearn says he thinks that Haymon should react to this move by Arum to sign Wilder by looking to make a fight against Anthony Joshua for his next fight. Haymon would obviously set the fight up with Joshua if Hearn was willing to give Deontay the 50-50 split that he’s asking for. Offering Wilder flat fees, and a 60-40 offer that favors Joshua, it’s not going to get the fight done. There’s also a lot of questions whether actually wants to make the Wilder fight. It could be that Hearn is focusing on name dropping in order to increase Joshua’s popularity without risking his career by putting him in with Wilder, and then seeing him get knocked out potentially.
“So if I’m Haymon right now, and Haymon is a guy who really based his career on making power moves, I go straight in and sign the undisputed fight with Joshua,” Hearn said.
Haymon has already been trying to make the Wilder vs. Joshua fight, but Hearn hasn’t shown much interest in making that. The $50 million offer from Wilder’s side to Joshua wasn’t accepted, and then when Deontay agreed to the $15 million flat fee for a fight against AJ last September, Hearn instead pulled him out of negotiations and matched Joshua against 39-year-old Alexander Povetkin. What does that tell you?
“[Deontay] boxed on Showtime, what, I don’t know, the last 10 to 12 fights. He just boxed on a Showtime pay-per-view and he’s basically come out and said to them ‘I ain’t with you, I’m a free agent. Who wants me?’”
Hearn is working himself up over nothing. Wilder is still with Haymon and SHOWTIME, and Hearn is focusing on petty stuff. Instead babbling about this nonsense, Hearn should be trying to make a real effort and putting the Joshua vs. Wilder fight together by sweetening his last offer of 60-40. Hearn is going to need to bump that offer up closer to 50-50 if he wants to get Wilder to put his John Hancock on the contract. I’m just saying.
Hearn needs to start putting AJ in good fights. He’s already burned through six years of his career, and he’s still only fighting guys like 315 pound Jarrell Miller. Joshua should have fought Wilder and Luis Ortiz ages ago.
