Joshua vs. Parker agree on purse split for fight

Boxing24.com

By Scott Gilfoid:

David Higgins of Duco Events is reporting that he’s reached an agreement between his fighter WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker and IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn for the purse split for their unification fight.

According to Higgins, the split is between 30 and 35 percent. He appears to be happy with the deal despite the fact that he initially wanted 40 percent for Parker (24-0, 18 KOs). If Hearn has been able to deal Higgins down to 32 or 33 percent for the Joshua-Parker fight, then that’s a big positive for Joshua and a negative for Parker. Hearn initially wanted Parker to accept a 30 percent deal. Parker only getting 32 or 33 percent is hardly a victory for him.

“We’ve had a major breakthrough, which is the two camps have formally agreed on the split,” said Parker’s promoter David Higgins to ESPN.com. “The Joshua side has made a small concession, and the Parker side has made a small concession. It’s between 30 and 35-ish percent for the Parker side. It’s somewhere closer to the middle of that,”said Higgins.

It would have been challenging to see what would have happened if Higgins held out for 38 percent of the cut. Would Hearn have walked away from the deal and matched Joshua up against Alexander Povetkin or Dillian Whyte or would he have agreed to it.

Now that the money split has been agreed on, Parker and Joshua will need to agree on the date and site for the fight. The fight will take place either March 31 or sometime in April.

The location for the Joshua vs. Parker fight will come down to one of these possible cities:

• Manchester, UK

• London, UK

• Cardiff, Wales

There’s also a chance the fight could take place in Saudi Arabia IF a big offer is made from a big money investor. That would be an ideal situation for Parker and Joshua, but it’s not something that can be counted on. More than likely the Parker-Joshua fight will end up in Manchester or London.

Joshua, 28, probably could more money fighting another heavyweight like Alexander Povetkin, Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller or Dillian Whyte, but he wants to unify the division by collecting all 4 of the titles. Joshua holds 2 of the 4 belts already with the IBF and WBA straps. The only heavyweight belts not in Joshua’s possession is the WBO belt held by Parker and the WBC strap held by Deontay Wilder. Joshua might not ever get a fight with Wilder, because of how far apart the two are in the purse split.

Wilder wants a 50-50 split, but Hearn is not open to that idea. Hearn might be looking at using the same strategy that he did in his negotiations for the Parker fight making a lowball offer initially, and then battling hard keep the percent just 2 or 3 points above that original offer. It wouldn’t be surprising if Wilder is given a 35 percent offer by Hearn. It would then be a battle for Wilder’s management to get the split up to the 37 or 38 mark. It would be surprising if Wilder is given a 60-40 purse split and unheard of for him to get a 55-45 split.

Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs) is still undefeated thus far in his 4-year pro career. Unfortunately, he’s not looking as solid as he once was. In Joshua’s last 2 fights, he’s labored to beat Wladimir Klitschko and Carlos Takam. While you can say that the reason for that was due to Joshua fighting better opposition, the real reason for him struggling is how big he’s gotten.

Joshua loves to lift weights, and he’s packed on 25 pounds of muscle in just 4 years. If Joshua was an NFL lineman, he’d be perfect with the weight that he’s packing on, but the weight isn’t conducive for him to fight at the highest levels in boxing. The sport involves a lot of cardio. When a fighter packs a massive amount of weight in a relatively short period of time the way that Joshua has done with his weight lifting, something has got to give. In this case, Joshua’s cardiovascular system is laboring to handle all that useless muscle mass he’s packed on. If Joshua was a lineman in the NFL, he could use his extra size to toss his opponents around. This is boxing though. You need to be able to throw punches, defend and move around the ring for 12 rounds. As such, Joshua has shot himself in the foot by turning his physique into a bodybuilder’s physique in my opinion. We’re starting to see how all the muscles that Joshua has packed on are beginning to hurt him. Joshua and his promoter believe that he’s going to stay close to his current weight of 254 for the remainder of his career. In other words, Joshua won’t be moving back down to the 230s or 220s. Personally, I see Joshua winding up in the 260s in a very short period of time. Primo Carnera fought at 265 lbs. in his career. We might see Joshua at the Carnera weight very soon. He just seems to pack on the weight for some reason. It’s too bad because he’s likely going to gas out and taste defeat soon.

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