Eddie Hearn claims he’s managed to call Deontay Wilder’s bluff as negotiations around a potential unification clash with Anthony Joshua stalled yet again.
Earlier this week, Wilder’s camp announced that they would offer Joshua a guaranteed $50 million and a 50-50 purse split if he agreed to take on ‘The Bronze Bomber’.
The offer came via an email from Wilder’s personal account and a deadline of Thursday night was set for ‘AJ’ to respond.
However, as Hearn has pointed out, it’s not as simple as a few emails back and forth to get a fight of this magnitude made.
The clock is ticking 🕛 https://t.co/aB9sA8QQ0R
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) April 26, 2018
The Matchroom boss has revealed Wilder’s odd stance on the matter before claiming that the WBC heavyweight champion’s manager cancelled a scheduled meeting.
“It’s all very bizarre,” Hearn told Sky Sports. “I returned the email of Deontay Wilder and said we are very interested in making this fight, please send us a draft contract.
“He replied and said ‘you have to accept the fight and then we will send you the contract’. I’ve never known anything so bizarre since I’ve worked in boxing.
“I had a meeting with Shelly Finkel scheduled for Thursday, he cancelled that meeting. I requested a meeting for today (Friday) and he emailed me, while also emailing the entire press world, saying ‘there is no point in meeting it would be non-productive – we have to accept the deal first.’
“It’s always nice to call someone’s bluff. What we’ve done is called their bluff here, and they won’t even meet to talk about the deal.
“It’s bizarre, but we are talking to other people as well. There’s probably about 50 people trying to make this deal at the moment. You’ve got Shelly Finkel, Al Haymon, Jay Deas and other people.”
Speaking to JOE earlier this month, Joshua admitted that Wilder was the only opponent he was interested in next because, with both fighters undefeated, now was the perfect time to decide the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis.
Both Joshua and Wilder have accused each other of attempting to avoid the fight but Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, claims that the recent exchanges prove that only one side is pushing for the bout to come to fruition.
Hearn continued: “We asked for a meeting to try and talk about the offer – they rejected it. We asked for a contract – they rejected it. I don’t know what more we can do, we can continue trying.
“I believe the boxing world has realised that this was a PR stunt turned disaster. We do want the fight and conversations will continue.
https://twitter.com/TroubleBoxing/status/989866387840552960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.skysports.com%2Fboxing%2Fnews%2F12183%2F11349286%2Fanthony-joshua-vs-deontay-wilder-talks-have-taken-a-bizarre-turn-says-eddie-hearn
“Dominic Breazeale tweeted this morning ‘I have been told I am fighting Deontay Wilder in August’.
“Is this whole thing a bit of profile building for Wilder? We hope not, we want the fight.”
