Despite his thunderous knockout win over Bermane Stiverne, the WBC World heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder will have to stay in the queue for his shot at Anthony Joshua’s world heavyweight boxing throne.
Many expected Wilder to get his opportunity after Joshua beat Carlos Takam in October but promoter Eddie Hearn hinted early that he wants to build up that fight to the maximum. And that means Joshua fighting Joseph Parker first for the WBO title.
“We’re certainly further away on the Deontay Wilder fight, in terms of expectations on both sides, then we are with the Joseph Parker fight,” said Hearn in an interview with Sky Sports.
Parker’s people managed to kill the momentum behind Wilder’s win by creating a lot of buzz on their own. The New Zealander’s promoter David Higgins has been very open about fight talks with Hearn and has revealed a lot of information on a weekly basis. Team Parker also managed to agitate Joshua with their recent bizarre press conference, where they showed clips of Joshua being rocked or dropped during fights.
“He’s winding him up, he’s pushing the right buttons to get the bite out of Anthony Joshua and Anthony wants to fight Joseph Parker. He wants to do a job on him and we hope it’s the next fight for the spring,” told Hearn.
In a recent interview with ESPN, Wilder commented on his situation of being pushed aside, for now, and having to wait for his fight against Joshua.
“I don’t think they are trying to make a negotiation at this point. I think they are trying to seek Parker. They got him on his agenda. [He is] their top priority which is fine. If they don’t want to fight at this time, that is ok. We’re not [going to] chase [anybody]. I’m not chasing Joshua. If Joshua [doesn’t] want to fight, then that’s fine. If they want to have one fight a piece and fight me next, that is fine,” commented Wilder.
When talking about the Joshua-Parker fight negotiations, the keyword has been ‘split’.
Parker is willing to do 65-35 and according to Hearn, they are close.
“We are single digits, percentages away right now, and we have to be creative,” said Hearn to Sky Sports.
Hearn will have a more demanding task with Wilder to get split in Joshua’s favour. In fact, ‘The Bronze Bomber’ will only accept a 50-50 split, nothing less.
“All the eyes around the world will be watching. We will stop the world in a moment in time to see once and for all, who is the heavyweight champion of the world. It is a great fight, it is one of the biggest fights in the world and everyone wants it. It will be 50-50 or else we don’t see a fight,” stated Wilder.
He then added:
“If they want to use splits, not to make a fight happen, then so be it. It is not like I am asking for more, I’m saying this is a 50-50 fight and that’s how it is. In the rematch, then we can talk about 60-40 splits or whatever. That is more acceptable.”
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