Joshua sends message to Wilder: “I’m ready”

By Trevor McIntyre

Boxingnews24.com

Anthony Joshua wants Deontay Wilder to know that he’s ready to fight him on April 13 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Wilder is the one that Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs) wants to fight in a unification match with all the belts on the line in April.

All Wilder needs to do to make that fight happen is to agree to the terms given to him by Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport. Wilder 40-0-1, 39 KOs) previously agreed to the terms for a fight last September. If Wilder doesn’t get too greedy, he can easily get the Joshua fight negotiated for April 13.

Now he needs to do is agree to the new terms that his managers and Hearn decide on. If Wilder refuses to agree to the deal, he could be sorry later if he gets beaten by Tyson Fury in a rematch. If that turns out to be the case, the money that Hearn offered Wilder in the past won’t be there for the next negotiations. Wilder might find himself getting a paltry offer that would make the $15 million flat fee seem gigantic in comparison.

“Now I think Deontay Wilder is in a sticky position, because he was trying to freeze me out. Now he’s in a sticky position,” Joshua said to Sky Sports News. “I’m ready…Everyone knows what we need to do. I need to fight Deontay Wilder for the belt.”

Wilder has made it pretty clear that he thinks it’s a “dumb” idea to fight Joshua right now given the 12 round split draw from his last fight against Tyson Fury three a half weeks ago on December 1. Wilder wants the rematch with Fury (27-0-1, 19 KOs) to shutdown the criticism he’s been receiving from boxing fans that he received a gift draw. Joshua and Hearn still have an outside shot at negotiating the April 13 fight against Deontay, but it’s going to take a lot of money to make it happen. Wilder has the Fury rematch that to fall back on if he doesn’t receive the offer that he wants from Hearn for the Joshua fight.READ Hearn wants Usyk to face Whyte, Chisora, Ward or Takam in early 2019

Hearn says there’s an “80 percent’ chance that Joshua will be fighting Whyte on April 13 instead of Wilder or Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller. If Hearn can’t get Wilder or Whyte to agree to the fight with Joshua in April, he says his number 3 choice is Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller, and he would move the location to New York. If Hearn moves Joshua’s fight from Wembley Stadium to New York for April, then it’s believed that he’ll stick the Amir Khan vs. Kell Brook fight in that venue. It’s a fight that will huge. The rest of the world might not be able to grasp the interest in the Khan vs. Brook fight, but it’s a very big one for UK audiences. They’ve been wanting to see that fight for ages, and they’re not going to care that its taking place late in their respective careers with both seemingly on the slide.