Hearn says Dillian Whyte likely Joshua’s opponent for April 13

By Scott Gilfoid: As expected, Eddie Hearn says Dillian Whyte is the leading candidate to face heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua next year on April 13 rather than WBC champion Deontay Wilder. Hearn complains that Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) and his team won’t speak with him.

Given the $15 million flat fee that Hearn is insisting that Wilder take for the fight with Joshua, it’s not all that surprising that he and his team aren’t speaking with him. The two sides are so far apart that it’s not realistic for them to speak until Hearn comes down to earth with an improved offer of the 50-50 percentage split that Deontay is asking for. Hearn’s flat fee offer to Wilder could wind up as an 85-15 split in the real sense if the Joshua-Wilder fight brings in over $100 million. That’s a horrible split for Deontay and an outstanding one for Joshua.

“As it goes right now, he’s [Whyte] the favorite, because Wilder won’t communicate with us, or his team,” Hearn said to skysports.com. “At the moment, that [Wilder] fight looks impossible, because how can we get it made, if they won’t reply?”

Well, Hearn knows how to make Wilder and his team respond to him. All he needs to do is say the magic words, ‘Deontay can get a 50-50 split for the Joshua fight.’ Believe me; if Hearn offers Wilder 50 percent of the loot for the Joshua fight, you can bet that he and his co-managers Shelly Finkel and Al Haymon wil likely respond straightaway. Hearn isn’t helpless. He knows what he has to do to get Wilder and his team to respond to him, but right now, he just doesn’t appear want that fight for Joshua. It’s obviously too risky for Hearn to put his prize golden goose Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs) in with Wilder, because if he loses, he gravy train will likely come to a screeching halt. I mean, there will still be a ton of money for Hearn and Joshua to make from the British boxing pubic if/when he loses to Wilder, but you can bet that the green won’t be nearly as good afterwards. We saw how Manny Pacquiao’s PPV buys dropped off the side of the cliff after he was soundly beaten by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2015. It just took one embarrassingly one-sided 12 round decision for Pacquiao to lose his popularity with the boxing public, and along with it, we’ve seen the money his fights make take a nosedive as well. In Joshua’s case, he’s a lot younger than Pacquiao at 28-years-old, and it would be really bad for him to see his money drop off at this early point in his career. As such, don’t expect Hearn to risk Joshua’s career by having him fight Deontay anytime soon. It’s probably not going to happen. Hearn’s lowball $15 million flat fee offer to the 6’7” Deontay Wilder is a big hint that he doesn’t want to make the Joshua fight. When someone doesn’t want any part of you, they show minimal interest by doing things like that.

Whyte, 30, wants to fight in December to get one more fight under his belt before he faces Joshua on April 13. Hearn has offered Whyte these three fighters for his December fight: Dereck Chisora, Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller and Dominic Breazeale. Out of the three, Chisora, 34, is the guy that would bring in the most amounts of interest – and pay-per-view loot – from the British boxing public. However, Whyte has doubts whether there will be enough money to go around to satisfy him and Chisora with their purse requirements. Whyte doubts whether the Chisora fight makes business sense right now. As such, Whyte could end up facing Miller or Breazeale in December unless he decides that even those fights don’t make business sense for him. In that case, Hearn will need to comb the ranks for a lesser heavyweight that is willing to take the least amount of money to satisfy Whyte for his purse requirements. The end result of Whyte taking on a fodder opponent though is fewer pay-per-view buys on Sky Box Office.

Since Whyte’s fights are now being shown on Sky Box Office, it means that he has to face somewhat live bodies. Other than Whyte’s fight with Joseph Parker, we haven’t seen him face a live body since his match with Chisora in 2016. Whyte arguably should have lost to Chisora and Parker in the eyes of a lot of boxing fans. Whyte beat Chisora by a questionable 12 round split decision. In the Parker fight, Whyte was given credit for a 2nd round knockdown after he rammed the New Zealand fighter with his head. Whyte then got away with a lot of fouling that should have resulted in him losing points, but the referee wasn’t up to the task of taking points off for the fouls. The fight ended up looking like a strange MMA hybrid match with a boxer [Parker] facing an MMA fighter [Whyte]. Once it was clear that the referee wasn’t going to stop the fouling from Whyte, the result was predictable.

“Out of the three, it’s the fight the British public want,” said Hearn about Chisora vs. Whyte.

If it was up to Hearn, he probably would make the Whyte-Chisora rematch. It’s the fight to make in terms of money, but I don’t think for a second that Whyte fancies it. Chisora is a tough cookie when he’s mentally focused and in shape. For that reason, it’s anyone’s guess that Whyte will face in December. I sure as heck don’t think it’ll be Miller or Breazeale. Those guys are too good, and I get the feeling that Whyte wants a soft touch to make sure he doesn’t blow his big money rematch with Joshua on April 13. There’s no question that Whyte will be facing a contender in December, but I don’t think it’s going to be a talented one. Hearn has the means to lure a bottom feeder into accepting the fight with Whyte in December. My thoughts are Hearn will get someone from this list to face Whyte in December on Sky Box Office:

– Christian Hammer

– Johann Duhaupas

– Alexander Ustinov

– Tom Schwartz

– Martiusz Wach

– Agit Kabayel