It was recently reported that Deontay Wilder’s manager, Shelly Finkel, had ignored correspondence from Eddie Hearn. Now, he’s revealed what the email said.
Wilder facing Anthony Joshua has long been a match up that boxing fans have wanted to see. Whilst there would be no belts on the line as it stands, the rivalry and intrigue are such that it would still be one of the biggest in the sport.
It’s been said that Eddie Hearn, ‘AJ’s promoter, has recently reached out to Wilder’s team to discuss a future fight between the former-champions. Finkel has told his initial response to FightHype.com, but given hope for it to happen when the time is right.
“The first thing is, the fight has to be made. I have a copy of the email – and I’ll show it at the right time to the press … I did not respond when he [Eddie Hearn] sent me an email [in August] because Deontay was fighting Helenius so I didn’t want to get into other things. The letter says ‘I have an idea, let’s talk.’ That’s it.
The next thing [being said] is I told him I had a wheelbarrow of money and we want to fight Joshua. That’s why I didn’t want to talk to him, because he’ll misconstrue it the way he wants to say it.
The time will come after this fight, if he’s sincere that Joshua wants it, we’ll make it.”
Now that Wilder has come through Robert Helenius – and quickly for that matter – talks should be allowed to flow freely between the two teams. Whether or not that means the fight will happen is a different conversation entirely, as fans will remember the struggles to get it made before.
Wilder is rumoured to be facing PBC stablemate, Andy Ruiz Jr, next in a final eliminator for Tyson Fury’s WBC belt. There’s also talk of ‘The Bronze Bomber’ jumping straight into a title shot against Oleksandr Usyk, as the Ukrainian has expressed his interest.
‘AJ’ is yet to get back to winning ways, but he’s expected to have a chance to do so in December or early next year against a ‘top 15’ heavyweight. If we are to see them face off, it’s unlikely to happen before the middle of 2023.