By Charlotte Daly and Michael Pavitt for Mailonline
18:20 23 November 2023, updated 18:32 23 November 2023
- Wilder blamed Joshua’s Matchroom promoters for stopping the fight
- Hearn responded by insisting that the American’s camp had failed to send a contract
- Why Anthony Joshua Rejected Deontay Wilder’s £40m Offer – The hook
Eddie Hearn has confirmed Deontay Wilder’s claim that he offered the $50m (£40m) fight to Anthony Joshua, but insists the fight failed to materialize after the American’s camp failed to send a contract.
Former heavyweight champion Wilder is set to fight on the same card on December 23 in Saudi Arabia as Joshua, but not against each other as hoped. Britain’s Joshua will fight Otto Wallin and Wilder will face Joseph Parker.
Wilder told Mail Sport’s The hook podcast last week that Joshua had rejected the offer, while also pointing the finger at British Matchroom promoters.
“It’s his management that stopped him from fighting me because, you know, he’s a fighter. It’s been over six years (waiting for the match to happen). But there comes a point where we’re like, ‘Forget it,'” Wilder said.
“A lot of times he wanted to fight, he wanted to accept it, but his managers didn’t want it because Joshua is the profit maker of the company. And if it goes down, so does the business.’
Hearn, responding to Wilder’s comments to Mail Sport, confirmed that Wilder’s team had made a direct offer to Joshua.
The promoter insisted a contract had to be sent to finalize a deal, but Wilder’s camp failed to do so.
“To be honest with you, that was three, four years ago. Nobody came to us with an offer. We got an email,” Hearn said.
“I mean, me and Deontay are friends, so I don’t want to be harsh, but we got an email from a Hotmail address saying we’re going to give you $50 million for the fight. Sent to Anthony Joshua. Directly. It was like ‘what’.
“Well, I came back and said to send the contract. They went no, you have to agree to the terms before we send the contract. I said you don’t agree to terms before you send the contract.
“I didn’t know what the contract was like at this point. I’m not going to put myself in a position and say yes, I agree to the terms and then get a contract that’s just rubbish and you can’t sign it. But, they never sent it.
“There are many reasons why this fight didn’t happen, but we have to look to the future.
“We have great chances to win the match. But, it’s all irrelevant if they don’t win on December 23.’
The expectation is that Joshua and Wilder will meet on New Year’s Day in Riyadh provided they both win their respective fights on December 23.
An agreement has been reached for the Day of Reckoning card after Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk’s fight was postponed from December 23rd to February 17th.
Hearn and long-time rival Frank Warren put aside their long-standing rivalry to deliver the blockbuster series to Saudi Arabia.
The rival promoters met for the first time when they confirmed the line-up.