Joshua, Parker heavyweight unification fight nears reality

Heavyweight world title holders Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker are on the verge of a deal to unify their belts this spring, Parker co-promoter David Higgins of Duco Events told ESPN on Wednesday night.

The biggest issue through the more than a month of negotiating the fight, one of the biggest that can be made in boxing, as it would match two unbeaten fighters for Joshua’s two belts and Parker’s on, has been how the sides would split tens of millions of dollars in revenue. But Higgins said he and Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing have finally reached an agreement on that point, and Hearn has sent him a contract.

“The fight has never been closer. We’re a lot closer now to a deal because we’ve had a major breakthrough, which is that the two camps have formally agreed on the split,” Higgins told ESPN in a phone interview from his home country of New Zealand. “The Joshua side made a small concession, and the Parker side has made a small concession.”

Initially, Parker’s side demanded 40 percent, with Hearn offering a fraction of that figure. Although Higgins declined to give the precise percentage split the sides agreed to, he said it was between roughly two thirds of the pie for the Joshua side and a third for the Parker side.

“It’s between 30 and 35ish percent for the Parker side,” Higgins said. “I’ll leave it at that for now, but it’s somewhere close to the middle of that. Maybe after Eddie and I talk about it, we will make the figure public.”