Hearn offering Wilder $15M to fight Breazeale, Whyte or Kownacki next, then Joshua

By Trevor McIntyre

Boxingnews24.com

Eddie Hearn is saying that he’ll offer Deontay Wilder $15 million for his next title defense if he faces Dominic Breazeale, Dillian Whyte or Adam Kownacki, and agrees to a two-fight deal with Anthony Joshua. Wilder wouldn’t be tied into a five to six-fight deal with Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing USA promotional company. Wilder would just need to take a defense against the likes of Breazeale, Whyte or Kownacki, and the fight wold have to be streamed on DAZN.

What Hearn isn’t saying is that Wilder likely wouldn’t get 50% of the revenue for a fight with Anthony Joshua. So whatever good money Wilder makes in facing Breazeale, Kownacki or Whyte, he’d wind up losing by getting less than the 50-50 deal that he’s been asking for to fight Joshua. It sounds like Hearn is shifting money around by offering to overpay Wilder for a fight with Whyte, Breazeale or Kownacki by taking a big chunk of revenue that Deontay would make for the two Joshua fights.

Additionally, for WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (40-0-1, 39 KOs) to get the $15 million, he would have to agree to a 2-fight deal with IBF/WBA/WBO champion Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs). Hearn says he would fine with the first Wilder vs. Joshua fight taking place in the United States, but he would want the second fight to happen in the UK, if AJ loses.

“There’s $15 milllion for a voluntary defense. You can’t ignore that offer [for] Breazeale, Whyte, Kownacki,” Hearn said to Fighthype. “Yeah, [Wilder would need to fight one of those guys on DAZN], if I’m going to pay the money. I’m not looking to tie you into a five or six fight

[deal]

. We got to do one voluntary, and we got to do the two Joshua fights,” Hearn said.

Hearn doesn’t promote Breazeale or Kownacki, so it’s difficult to understand why he’s mentioning those two. Dillian Whyte is under Hearn’s Matchroom promotional banner, and that’s the guy that he’s been eager to match against Wilder. Unfortunately, there’s very little chance that Wilder would accept an offer from Hearn to fight Whyte, especially if it’s tied into a two-fight deal with Joshua that would give him less than the 50-50 purse split that he’s asking for. Getting $15 million to fight Kownacki or Breazeale would be a great deal for Wilder, as long as he still gets the 50-50 split to fight Joshua.

When asked if Wilder would have to agree to the 60/40 split as part of the first fight with Joshua, Hearn said, “Or even more. Who knows? Yes, we can do it in America. I think if Joshua loses the first fight [against Wilder], we should get the opportunity to do it [rematch] in the UK. SHOWTIME is in a tough spot, because they can’t pay Wilder that kind of money,” Hearn said.

Hearn is talking, but there’s no way of knowing if he’s serious about the $15 million offer to Wilder. Hearn could just be throwing that offer into the air in order to get attention off of Joshua, because right now a lot of boxing fans think he’s been ducking the Wilder fight. By Hearn saying that he’s offering Wilder $15 million for a preliminary fight that leads to two Joshua mega-fights, it makes AJ look good in the eyes of the boxing public. But if Wilder isnt going to receive the money that he wants for the two fights with Joshua, then he doesn’t come out ahead with this offer. Moreover, if this is a fake offer from Hearn to Wilder, and just something he’s doing in a public relations move to make Joshua look good at the expense of Deontay, then it’s just a waste of time. It’s just Hearn grandstanding.