Exclusive Wilder confirms he is ready to fight Joshua at Wembley
Co-manager prepared to accept 40 per cent purse Unification bout could take place this summer
Deontay Wilder has accepted Anthony Joshua’s challenge and is ready to come to the United Kingdom to fight this summer in a heavyweight unification contest, Shelly Finkel, the American’s comanager, confirmed yesterday.
Wilder’s team are ready to begin negotiations after promoter Eddie Hearn stressed a need to seal a deal for this year.
The American is prepared to accept 40 per cent of the purse, with the camps having already broadly discussed a two-fight scenario, the first contest most likely at Wembley Stadium, the second in Las Vegas or New York.
“We are really glad that Anthony Joshua said for the first time ‘I will fight Deontay next’ and we believe he is a man of his word. Deontay accepts the challenge,” Finkel told The Daily Telegraph.
Joshua had been quick to call out Wilder in the ring after defeating Joseph Parker in Cardiff on Saturday, when he claimed the previously unbeaten Samoan’s World Boxing Organisation title, to go with his own International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association belts. Only Wilder, the World Boxing Council champion, who is undefeated in 40 contests, stands in the way of the Briton unifying all the belts.
Finkel revealed yesterday that he would make contact with Joshua’s Matchroom promoters to stress that Wilder, for whom he is co-manager with the influential Al Haymon, was committed to the contest.
“We want to make it public that Deontay wants the fight, and we are prepared to come over, or meet here and get the deal done. Deontay is ready to sign and come to the UK to fight this summer.”
Replying to Hearn’s assessment that there was a small window of opportunity before Joshua must defend to the mandatory challengers to the three other belts, Finkel, who has the authority to get the contest signed from the Wilder side, said: “We’re ready. Let’s do it. And anyway, unification fights always trump mandatories. A unification between Wilder and Joshua would push the mandatories back.
“Assuming it will be Wembley Stadium in the summer, we are ready, and if they are as ready as they say they are, we want to get it done. We want the fight, they want the fight, the public wants the fight. There is nothing to stop it going ahead.”
Finkel confirmed that talks had gone on last October and November, conducted in New York with Hearn and then his father, Barry, in which the prospect of two fights, one in the UK and the other in the United States, were discussed.
Then things stalled. “That was in November, we were told they would get back with the numbers, but we never heard from them again,” added Finkel.
Barry Hearn, speaking on BBC Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek programme, said on Sunday: “[Wilder] is a fight Anthony Joshua really wants and I think he wants it this year.
“Joshua wants all the belts – that is the big card Deontay Wilder has got to play [but] commercially, Joshua is far bigger than Deontay Wilder. I think Wilder would come over here because, in the world we live in, in boxing, the couple of million dollars Wilder is getting for a fight is pretty small fry in comparison to the rewards that await him for a Joshua fight. I think negotiations will start next week.”
Hearn had insisted at the postfight news conference in Cardiff that “they don’t want it. They’ve never approached us”.
According to Finkel, that is not the case. The bigger picture is that when Joshua boxes next will be a decision made by the fighter himself and his trainer Rob Mccracken.
“I will present the deal to Anthony, but it has to be the right deal,” Hearn said. “It’s not really about Wilder, it is about us. We will sit down over the next couple of weeks and plan out the rest of 2018. It’s his [Joshua’s] call on how many times he wants to fight this year.”
Finkel, meanwhile, said: “We are happy to come over and meet face to face. We think a 60-40 split is fair. Let’s not have any roadblocks, let’s make the fight. If they want it in the UK, fine. If they want the first one in Vegas, fine.”
Finkel also explained Wilder’s reasons for not attending the Joshua fight, the heavyweight having felt that he may have been subjected to unnecessary taunting from other quarters, such as Dillian Whyte.
“We can get the broad contracts down and then go over the finer details,” added Finkel. “When I had Tyson and Holyfield, I picked up the phone. That’s all we need to do here. If we get two great fights, there will no doubt be a third. That’s the bottom line.”