Joshua pressed for time to get title fight

Deep in the bowels of Cardiff, Wales’ Principality Stadium, Anthony Joshua sat with his four world heavyweight belts in front of him and called on Deontay Wilder to get serious about negotiations for a unification fight. Across the Atlantic, Wilder was posting a video on Twitter minutes later, shouting into his phone: “Joshua? Joshua? Stop playing, and pick up the phone!”

Team Joshua wants it. Team Wilder wants it. But will it happen?

The path was cleared for a fight between the sport’s two most destructive punchers when Joshua beat Joseph Parker in a unanimous decision in front of 78,000 spectators in Cardiff on Saturday. He added Parker’s WBO belt to his own WBA, IBF and lightly regarded IBO straps. But he knows there’s one missing if he’s to become the first undisputed heavyweight champ since Lennox Lewis in 2000: Wilder’s WBC belt.

“I will get all five of the belts,” Joshua said. “It’s not an issue.” Yet, he knows time is not on his side. And so does his promoter, Eddie Hearn.

Being a multiple champion brings with it a range of mandatory fights. There’s only a small window for Joshua to clean up the division before the belts start getting stripped off him. “I think it has to happen in 2018,” Hearn said of the Wilder fight, “otherwise we are going to hit some major problems with the politics and the mandatories.”

It’s not the first time Hearn has spoken of the difficulties in dealing with Wilder’s people, and it likely won’t be the last. He has already visited New York for negotiations but it gets complicated with Wilder’s affairs being handled by co-managers Shelly Finkel and Al Haymon, and Haymon’s business partner Luis DeCubas Jr. Also problematic for Hearn and Joshua is Wilder’s apparent desire for a 50-50 split of any fight. Joshua believes, as a holder of four belts, that he deserves a bigger share of the pie.

Wilder has won all 40 of his pro fights (with 39 knockouts), while Joshua made it 21-0 with a no-frills win over Parker.