loading…
Why did the Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder fight fail to take place despite a £40 million bid? Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has revealed the reason why the massive £40 million fight between Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder is not happening.
The two will indeed fight in Saudi Arabia on December 23 – but not against each other. The date was originally set for Tyson Fury to face Oleksandr Usyk in a match for the undisputed heavyweight title.
But with both heavyweight champions set to square off in February, boxing fans are hoping to see AJ and Wilder finally end their feud. Unfortunately, for bettors, the two rivals failed to reach an agreement. And Joshua will now fight Otto Wallin, while Wilder will face Joseph Parker.
The two can finally meet next year provided they win their respective Christmas games. But American Wilder said this week that he does not have much hope of fighting, having failed to land a £40m fight with Joshua a few years ago.
“It was his management that kept him from fighting me, because, you know, he’s a fighter. It’s been over six years. But there comes a point where you’re like ‘forget it,'” said Eddie Hearn.
“Many times he wants to fight, he wants to take it, but his handlers don’t want it, because Joshua is the money maker for the company. And if he loses, then the business will be destroyed.”
Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, has now confirmed that Wilder did indeed submit a £40 million proposal “three or four years ago.” However, an official contract was not sent after that, resulting in the fight falling through.
“To be honest, it was about three or four years ago. Nobody came to us with an offer. We just got an email. I mean, me and Deontay are friends, so I’m not being harsh, but we got an email from a Hotmail address who said ‘we’ll give you 50 million dollars for that fight,” Eddie Hearn told the Mail.
“It was sent to Anthony Joshua directly, he was like ‘what? I came back and said ‘send me the contract’.
They said ‘no, you have to agree to the terms before we send you the contract’. I said ‘You will not agree to the terms before sending the contract.”
”I don’t know what the contract looked like at that time. “I’m not going to put myself in a position and say ‘yes, I agree to the terms’ and then accept a contract that’s just garbage and you can’t sign it.”
“But they never sent it. There are many reasons why the game didn’t happen, but we have to look to the future. We had a big chance to get the game, but it’s all irrelevant if they don’t win on December 23.”
(aww)