Joshua wants Wilder for face-to-face

Boxingnews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid

Anthony Joshua says his fight instincts kick in when he hears the likes of Tyson Fury and

trash talking him. Joshua says he wants a “face to face” with those two to fight them. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like either of those guys will be facing Joshua soon.

Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) would like to fight Joshua in the summer, but with AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn only offering a flat fee, it doesn’t look like we’re going to see them fight each other in 2018.

The basic problem that Joshua has is if he’s not going to give the important guys like Wilder and Fury a decent slice of the financial pie in terms of purse splits, then he might as well forget talking about either of them. I’m just saying. When your promoter is offering arguably the best heavyweight in the division a small $12.5 million flat fee in a potential pot of $100 million, then you’re not going to get him and his team to agree to that.

Hearn might as well be telling Wilder to scram, and he has no intention of matching him against Joshua. Maybe Hearn’s attitude will change in the future when he realizes that he’s getting diminishing returns with the PPV buys and ticket sales for Joshua’s lackluster opposition. Bu as of right now, Hearn isn’t likely going to be able to get Wilder or Fury to agree to a flat fee for only a tiny percentage of the pot of gold that need to divvy up.

“I’d rather do it face-to-face. That’s what I’m waiting for. That’s what I’ve always said,” Joshua said to skysports.com about him wanting to face Wilder and Fury. “I hoped for his [Fury] return so he can fight soon. Wilder – we’re looking at negotiations to see whether we can get that going. There’s a lot of talk across the pond but it will be good when we come face-to-face,” Joshua said.

Instead of Joshua complaining about he feels it necessary to bite back every now and then when Wilder and Fury trash talk him, he should give Hearn his marching orders to setup fights with those two guys. If Hearn offered them a 55-45 or 60-40 split of the revenue, he’d likely be able to setup fights for Joshua with both guys in 2018.

Joshua says he wants to collect all the heavyweight titles, but that sure as heck isn’t going to happen with Hearn unwilling to give Wilder the 50-50 split that he’s asking for. Hearn should see the money that will be made off that fight as not Joshua’s entirely. Without Wilder, there would be zero money, because Joshua can’t fight himself. As such, Wilder deserves half of the loot if he’s the reason why the boxing fans are excited about seeing the Joshua-Wilder fight. Look at it this way.

If Hearn doesn’t give Wilder a 50-50 fight, then he won’t have him as an opponent for Joshua. That means no money at all. So, instead of Joshua-Wilder, the British boxing fans would have to see Joshua fighting the likes of Alexander Povetkin and Jarrell Miller. Neither of those fights are interesting.

“He’ll do a great job of promoting and selling himself and I’ll do a great job of knocking him out,” said Joshua to independent.ie about Deontay. “People talk a good game, but it’s about backing it up in the ring. People like to trash talk. I like to beat them in the ring. I’ve never heard of a record for winning press conferences or stare downs.”

Well, if Joshua wants the fight with Deontay, he’s going to have to tell Hearn to give him the deal that he’s asking for, because he sure as heck isn’t going to agree to the 12.5% offer that was given recently.

About Author