Deontay Wilder offered 20% purse for Joshua fight

Boxingnews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid

Deontay Wilder has reportedly been offered a flat fee of 20 percent for his unification fight against IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, according to Boxingtalk. If this offer is true, then it’s a big hint that Joshua and his management don’t fancy the fight with Deontay. Wilder not even getting a percentage of the gate and pay-per-view sounds bad. I can’t see Wilder and his management ever agreeing to that kind of a one-sided offer from Joshua.

If the Joshua-Wilder fight brings in $80 million, as many believe it will, then offering just $10M to $15M is way too low. Wilder should at least be getting $30M. If Joshua gets $70 million and Wilder just $10M, there’s an imbalance there.

I hate to say it but I saw this coming. I figured that Wilder would be thrown a few scraps when it came to the negotiations by being given a flat fee offer. If this is a take it or leave it offer by Team Joshua, then that’ll make it even worse. I expected that kind of offer as well. I hate when I’m right.

Wilder’s flat fee reportedly does NOT include a split of the gate or PPV. Wilder accepting a 20 percent split would obviously be hard for him to do. It was thought that Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn would at least offer Wilder a 60-40 purse split. But offering an 80-20 split is bad. If Joshua isn’t willing to sweeten the offer considerably for Wilder, then the fight might not happen. It’s common in negotiations for a promoter to give a lowball offer in the initial offer, and then work upwards. The 20 percent offer to Wilder, if true, is REALLY starting low, and it shows you how much Team Joshua values Deontay’s contribution to this fight.

Wilder’s 20 percent split is considerably less than the 33% split former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker received for his unification fight against Joshua last month on March 31. It’s unclear why Joshua’s management have given Wilder less when he’s considered a more popular fighter than Parker in the U.S, and he’s clearly a bigger threat. However, the 20 percent purse split could be Joshua’s promoter’s way of letting Wilder know they’re not interested in the fight.

The flat fee offer by Team Joshua doesn’t include the pay-per-view or gate. In other words, Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) was offered a flat fee for the fight with AJ. Wilder’s promoter Lou Dibella reportedly laughed at the offer and made to comment, according to Greg Leon of Boxingtalk. Wilder’s flat fee offer is said to be from $10M to $15M.

This is what I was afraid of. Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing giving Wilder just a trifle in offering him only a small percentage of what the Joshua-Wilder fight will make between them. You can argue that Wilder is basically being given a message with the 20 percent offer. When a fighter is given a low offer of just 20 percent, it’s a sign that there’s no interest on their opponent’s part.

If Wilder brings in more PPV buys than Joseph Parker, then he should receive a better split than the 33 percent that he received for his fight against Joshua. Offering Wilder only 20 percent is ridiculous.
It’ll be interesting to see if Wilder’s management hold out for at least a 40 percent cut of the loot. It looks to me like Joshua’s promoter Hearn is looking to get out of the fight by making a low offer.

Wilder receiving only a 20 percent purse split offer for the Joshua fight seems to have a message attached to it. Receiving that low of an offer suggests that Wilder isn’t highly valued by Joshua and Hearn. It might be best for Wilder to move on, and wait for Hearn and Joshua to come to their senses and raise that offer nearer to 50 percent, which you can argue is what Deontay should be getting for the Super Fight. Heck, Parker received a 33 percent offer. Wilder receiving far less than that offer at 20% is huge hint from Joshua that he simply doesn’t want the fight with him. Joshua is just pricing himself out by asking for 80% of the loot. If Joshua and Hearn choose not to bump up Wilder’s offer to at least 40%, then it’s probably a waste of time for the 6’7″ American to take the fight. Even a mandatory contender is entitled to a 25% split of the revenue. Wilder being offered just 20% suggests that Joshua doesn’t even value him as being in the same class as a mandatory. The last time I checked, Wilder is the WBC heavyweight champion of the world, and one of the most exciting fighters in the division. Being offered less of a split than a mandatory challenger kind of shows you that Wilder is not valued as an opponent for Joshua.

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