Deontay Wilder is serious about making Anthony Joshua his next fight and now the ball is in the court of the Brit and his promoter Eddie Hearn.
Promoter Lou DiBella has confirmed to multiple news sources that WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) has thrown down an offer of $50 million to Anthony Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs). Wilder and his team sent an offer to Eddie Hearn, promoter of Joshua, with a guarantee of $50 million for a high stakes unification in the fall.
Joshua’s promoter Hearn believes it is simply a PR move as while he received an offer letter, he said he did not receive an actual contract with specific details such as where the fight would take place.
“We dont how real it is,” Hearn said to BoxingScene. “Deontay Wilders sent the letter and said youve got to sign the contract tomorrow and theres a fight. We havent had a contract yet. Its a wonderful PR move but well see.”
“Its very nice of Deontay to make that offer, we need to see how secure that is, we need to see a contract, we want to know where it is and quite a lot of other things as well. But were definitely interested to look at those numbers,” Hearn added.
Wilder last fought in March when he knocked out former undefeated Cuban boxer Luis Ortiz in the 10th round of their Brooklyn, New York, clash in a contest many felt was his toughest opponent yet. Wilder took home a career-high $2.1 million payday from that fight and looks set to smash that figure should a fight with Joshua ever come to fruition.
A few weeks ago, Hearn sent Wilder a guaranteed offer of $12.5 million to fight Joshua, who holds the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO world heavyweight titles. Hearn, recently told BoxingScene.com that Joshua-Wilder was a contest where the overall revenue (after all expenses) would fall around $40 million.
Based on that calculation, Hearn believes the offer of $12.5 million to Wilder is “more than fair.”
DiBella, who works closely with Wilder and his adviser Al Haymon, says the offer of $50 million is a clear indication that Wilder and his team are aggressively pursuing this fight.
If a deal is not reached for the unification, Hearn has already confirmed that Joshua would likely satisfy his mandatory obligation to the WBA by fighting Alexander Povetkin. The sanctioning body has already ordered Joshua and Povetkin to face each other.
