Joshua vs. Wilder update: Hearn says offer recieved from Skills Challenge for December, no contract yet

By Boxing News - 06/08/2023 - Comments

By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn has revealed that he’s received an offer from Skills Challenge Promotion for Anthony Joshua to fight Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia in December.

Hearn states that Skills Challenge hasn’t yet received a contract for the Joshua-Wilder fight. No word yet on the status of the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk fight being targeted for the same card in December.

Unfortunateely, there are no guarantees the Fury-Usyk fight will get made for December because Skills Challenge will be making a take-it-or-leave-it offer to Fury, and if he’s got ideas about wanting more than what they’re offering, that might not happen.

The fight that fans are more interested in seeing is Joshua vs. Wilder because that one is expected to be far more entertaining than the Fury vs. Usyk clash, which likely turns out to be a lot of Kodiak bear-like mauling, holding, and hitting behind the head business from Fury. That’s so, so boring to watch.

A much leaner-looking Wilder was like the pre-Fury version of himself in the last fight, knocking out Robert Helenius in the first round last October.

The former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay weighed in at 214 lbs for that fight, the lightest he’s ever weighed since his first battle with Fury in 2018.

Deotay weighed 212 lbs for that fight and was arguably robbed of a knockout in the twelfth round when he had Fury unconscious on the canvas, and the referee shockingly gave a count. It was the oddest thing. Fury asleep, and the referee counting instead of halting the bout on the spot.

We have an offer without a contract. So we need to wait on that contract,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV about an offer he’s received from Skills Challenge Promotion for the Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder fight in December in Saudi Arabia.

Hearn says Joshua is still planning on fighting a rematch against Dillian Whyte on August 12th, but that fight might not happen.

“I love Delboy. Tyson Fury just boxed Derek Chisora, and he [Frank Warren] wants to complain about Anthony Joshua against Dillian Whyte.

“It’s a great fight. We might not make that fight, but AJ is going to fight on August the 12th, and we’re not going to be missed around,” said Hearn.

So there it is. Joshua might not fight Whyte on August 12th. Hearn said that if they don’t use Whyte as Joshua’s opponent, they’ll find someone else from the top 15 for him to fight on August 12th, but he says that’s the guy that AJ wants.

He wants to fight the 35-year-old Whyte, who many boxing fans believe deserved a loss in his last fight against Jermaine  Franklin last November.

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