Frank Warren sounded pretty confident that Alexander Povetkin was next up for Anthony Joshua but it looks like we could be getting the Deontay Wilder unification fight after all.
After negotiations seemingly stalled for the bout, which would decide the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis, it was expected that both Joshua and Wilder would go down the route of mandatory defences in the autumn.
However, a massive update took place on Monday night as WBC champion Wilder revealed that he’d accepted Joshua’s terms to fight in the United Kingdom.
Location seemed to be the largest stumbling block in the talks between the fighters’ camps as both men wanted home advantage and ‘AJ’ has seemingly won out after admitting that he’d be happy to take a lesser purse to have the contest take place in the UK.
🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨 for all you @anthonyfjoshua fans… The $50M offer for him to fight me next in the US is still available. Today I even agreed to their offer to fight Joshua next in the UK. If he prefers the fight in the UK, the ball is in their court. It’s up to them to choose. pic.twitter.com/03PE8sk5x0
— Deontay Wilder (@BronzeBomber) June 11, 2018
Wilder posted the above tweet before his manager, Shelly Finkel, confirmed to ESPN that they had finally agreed to the terms set out by Joshua and promoter Eddie Hearn.
“We have agreed to the terms that Eddie has put out to us for a fight in the UK Deontay has accepted his terms to fight in the UK,” Finkel said.
“Deontay sent an email to Joshua [Sunday] night, and I sent one [Monday] to Barry Hearn and Eddie telling them that we officially accept the offer to fight under the terms they gave us and to send us the contract.”
It’s understood that Wilder accepted a two-fight deal which will entitle him to a rematch with ‘AJ’ in the United States.
Hearn recently claimed that a deal to fight mandatory WBA challenger Povetkin was “virtually done” but there’s no telling how much of that was a clever ploy to force Wilder’s hand and if that’s what the Matchroom boss intended, he’s absolutely nailed it.
