'Maybe they don’t want us that bad': Anthony Joshua promoter doubts Wilder camp's interest in fight
Eddie Hearn says that after numerous unanswered calls and emails, he is beginning to doubt Deontay Wilder's claim that he wants to unify the four main world heavyweight titles in a blockbuster bout with Anthony Joshua.
Both Joshua and Wilder's camps have talked up the potential of a unification bout this year, though it appears that the matter has been complicated somewhat by the recent draw between Wilder and former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
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Talk of a bout between Wilder and Joshua, the two undefeated champions, has been rife since last year but contract negotiations stalled before the WBA ordered Joshua to undertake a mandatory defense against Alexander Povetkin.
Since then, Wilder appears to more focused on a rematch with Fury after their outstanding bout late last year.
Joshua's camp, though, are still holding out hope that they will be next to face Wilder, though Hearn says that they are nowhere close to a deal at the moment.
“We would desperately love to fight Deontay Wilder in Wembley on April 13th,” Hearn said to Love Sport Radio.
"We have offered him successively more and more. Not just guaranteed money, but percentage money. It will generate many times more than he has ever earned in his life. But there’s a certain level beyond which we won’t go because AJ is the A-side.
“Unfortunately to report that so far despite three, four emails, dozens of phone calls. We haven’t had one response from Deontay Wilder’s team.
"So sooner or later you take the hint that maybe they don’t want us that bad. But then they’re also, I guess, planning a Tyson Fury rematch.”
Wilder, meanwhile, says that he must strike while the iron is hot with regard to a second bout with Fury following the massive interest in their first battle.
Also on rt.com Knockout news: The 4 storylines that defined boxing in 2018“It was a controversial fight, and when it’s like that you’ve gotta come back,” he said to Fight Hub TV. “There can’t be no draws. There’s a winner and a loser, do you know what I’m saying?”
Should a contract to face Wilder not be signed in advance of Hearn's deadline, it is likely that they will turn their attention to a rematch with Dillian Whyte, who defeated Derick Chisora by 11th round knockout last month. Joshua is the only man to best Whyte in his professional career, knocking him out in the seventh round of their December 2015 bout in London.
