It hasn’t yet been signed but Eddie Hearn has been teasing how much Anthony Joshua might earn to fight Deontay Wilder.
Matchroom chief, Hearn, and former unified heavyweight champion, Joshua, have long been talking about fighting Alabama knockout artist Wilder later in the year or at the start of 2024 as part of a big heavyweight tournament out in Saudi Arabia. Yesterday it was reported that representatives of both big men have been meeting in London to finalise the terms.
Speaking to Carl Froch, Hearn revealed the purse Joshua is set to receive for the fight.
“Belts, no belts, it doesn’t really matter when you have such a wide A-side. He’s about to make $60 million to fight Deontay Wilder in December.”
Even with that huge payday in sight, Hearn is still keen for Joshua to fight in August, with former foe Dillian Whyte the likely opponent after a dispute over a rematch clause has seemingly been sorted.
“We are giving Dillian Whyte a fight, an opportunity, we don’t have to do it. It’s not AJ, it’s me, saying if you lose to Dillian Whyte you’re not in the wilderness, but you’re in a really bad position and you’ve lost 60 million in December.
The fight would be 1-1 in the pros, so it would be the equaliser and the rematch is 50/50, DIllian Whyte would make double-digit million in the rematch. but It doesn’t matter now because I’ve spoken to AJ and he said he’s not bothered about the rematch. It’s standard.”
There would be no title on the line in either of these proposed fights for Joshua, but that does nothing to dilute the excitement many fans would feel, particularly for the fight with The Bronze Bomber.