Shelly Finkel, manager of former heavyweight world champion Deontay Wilder, has admitted that he has been ignoring offers from Eddie Hearn.
In an interview with talkSport, Finkel told of how important it is for Wilder to remain focussed on his fight with Robert Helenius, rather than getting carried away with other possible fights.
“It’s come out a few times by Eddie Hearn that I avoided him. That’s partially true, well it’s wholly true.”
“We have a fight coming up with Robert Helenius. Eddie emailed me, ‘Can we talk? I have some big [offer] for Deontay.’”
“Right now we have the Helenius fight, that’s all we need to concentrate on. Because if something went wrong there, nothing else would be. And if it goes right, it’ll all get worked out.
“And I felt if I got on a call with Eddie, the next thing you would be on the call to me, ‘Oh, did you and Eddie talk?’
“So I said to Deontay and Al Haymon, ‘What do you think?’ And they said, ‘Let’s just get this fight out of the way.’”
Finkel also spoke of his feelings towards Eddie Hearn, distancing himself from rumours that he has any ill-feelings towards to the British promoter.
He reassured fight fans that there is no issues in their relationship that could stop a potential fight between Wilder and Joshua happening in the future.
“Barry Hearn and I, we go back 30/40 years and it’s always been very cordial.”
“And the Eddie thing, look, he’s been around not as long as he thinks he has, but he’s done some really exciting, good things – so I give him credit for that.
“And when it comes time to make a deal, it’ll get done, or not.
“It got done with Wladimir Klitschko and now he [Anthony Joshua] seems to be on a path to fight Tyson Fury. I wish him well.”
Any talks between Finkel and Hearn, cordial or otherwise, will have to wait. Not only because of Wilder’s fight with Helenius, but also because of the apparent progression in talks of a fight between Joshua and Tyson Fury.
Although there hasn’t been an official announcement, the date of December 3rd appears to be all but confirmed for a fight in Cardiff in what would be one of the biggest fights in British boxing history.