‘It certainly won’t be by January’: Hearn talks status of proposed Joshua vs Wilder fight
Eddie Hearn says after agreeing to an offer from Saudi Arabia, the contracts never came through.
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn talks to Fight Hype about the much discussed fight between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder that still hasn’t come to fruition. Hearn plainly says the money that was offered for the fight didn’t ultimately come through which canned their plans, and if that fight comes together it certainly won’t be by January.
Hearn on why a Joshua vs Wilder fight hasn’t come together yet
“All I can tell you is we got an approach from Saudi Arabia and Skill Challenge. We got an offer from them, we accepted the offer, Wilder accepted the offer, and the contracts never came.
“Now, should I have known that? I’ve done two fights with those guys, they were solid every time they said it’s happening, it happened, so in my mind it was done. But things changed out there and I understand that and respect it, so that’s put a spanner in the works.
“So now we’re looking at it, myself and Shelly continue to talk, but we look at Vegas and we look at some people making offers, some people wasting time against out in the Middle East, but we have to explore those options. So all I can tell you is January is definitely not happening.”
On Wilder’s trainer Malik Scott saying Joshua doesn’t want the fight to happen
“But Malik Scott talks so much shit. Like he also said it was my fault — we weren’t even involved in the negotiations. So the situation is we were offered a deal that we accepted. Now it’s not my fault now that some of the alternatives might not be the number anywhere near the last number. So that just makes us consider our options. We’re also in line to potentially fight for the IBF world title against Filip Hrgovic or we’ll see what happens with Otto Wallin.
“So I don’t care about Deontay Wilder. He’s in his own problems. The guy ain’t fought for a year and his last fight was about 40 seconds. So he’s a guy that he don’t really want to fight, I don’t think. Joshua’s boxed twice in seven months and he may fight in December or January.”