Negotiations between Matchroom and Deontay Wilder’s management started on Thursday last week.
Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn met with Shelly Finkel and Al Haymon in New York to discuss terms, dates and splits for the upcoming unifying heavyweight title fight.
The WBC World heavyweight champion Wilder wants the bout sooner than later whereas Joshua’s side is more keen to make the fight as big as possible and have it during the summer.
I AM the most feared man in this sport. I AM the boogeyman of boxing. pic.twitter.com/h24G2bRihG
— Deontay Wilder (@BronzeBomber) November 9, 2017
In an interview with IFL.tv, Hearn revealed details about what was discussed during his meeting with Finkel and Haymon.
Hearn said the pressure is on for the Americans to deliver something big for their WBC champion. The obvious two places to host the fight are Las Vegas or London but there was talk of having a rematch as well.
“I think they are under pressure to deliver Deontay Wilder something. To deliver him some money and to deliver him a real fight. You could tell that. We talked about doing it March or April. We talked about outdoors in the UK, we talked about doing it in Vegas. They want in Vegas we’d like it in the UK. We talked about doing two fights, one in Vegas, one in the UK,” revealed Hearn.
They also discussed the possibility of both Joshua and Wilder boxing on the same card before their eventual head to head clash in the summer.
“We talked about maybe both of them boxing on the same card in March or April and then doing it in the summer,” Hearn told.
“Everything is in play at the moment,” he continued.
The WBA, IBF & IBO World heavyweight champion is currently in Dubai enjoying some time off.
But Joshua has still been in contact with Hearn and he’s willing to face whoever. The promoter talked about how they are ready to pay a bit more to Joseph Parker and Wilder since the mission is to get all the belts for ‘AJ’.
“AJ texted me ‘who is next, Wilder or Parker?’ So that’s what’s in his mind. Spoken to Parker’s team… it’s difficult,” said Hearn.
He then continued:
“Every fighter wants to be overpaid. Doesn’t matter if you are doing a four rounder or unifying the heavyweight division. We are not difficult to deal with. Anthony Joshua has had to consistently overpay people to fight him because of his value. He has to do the same for Parker and the same for Wilder but he’s prepared to do it because he wants the belts,” confirmed Hearn.
Tyson Fury has also been mentioned a lot lately in the same sentence as Joshua and Wilder as he is preparing for his comeback in 2018. But the fact is the biggest fight at the moment is Wilder-Joshua and Fury will be kept on the sidelines until he’s officially licensed again.
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