It isn’t a done deal, but it sounds like we are getting heavyweight unification after all. American WBC heavyweight titleholder has gone on record to say he has agreed to terms to fight three belt unified titleholder Anthony Joshua.
It is happening! Deontay Wilder and his co-manager Shelly Finkel have publicly agreed to an offer sent by Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn to meet their heavyweight superstar Anthony Joshua in the United Kingdom. This is arguably the biggest fight that can be made in boxing right now and we are on the verge of having it officially signed, sealed, and delivered. The targeted date is sometime in the Fall. Not that it was a bad fight, but we can thankfully put away the Alexander Povetkin versus Anthony Joshua talk for now.
Not only is one fight agreed to, but apparently the terms for a rematch have already been agreed to as well. It sounds like that one doesn’t necessarily have to be in the UK. Details are scant. I’d speculate that there may be a few different rematch possibilities based on the outcome of the first fight, but maybe not. Either way, Wilder and his team have asked that contracts be sent for the terms agreed to so that they may be signed. This is happening.
The time seems right too. Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs), long seen as a questionably elite fighter, finally affirmed his position as an elite heavyweight with his exciting stoppage win over long feared and avoided Cuban contender Luis Ortiz in March. Anthony Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs), an absolute megastar since his game changing stoppage win over Wladimir Klitschko last year, is at worst the second biggest draw in the sport internally behind Canelo Alvarez. If there has ever been a worthy PPV fight, this is it. Both men are unquestionably in their primes.
There has been some thought that Joshua’s team did not want this fight for him. The logic has been that Anthony Joshua could make $20 million fighting you or I. Why take the risk of meeting the one man who could potentially ruin that in Deontay Wilder? Given statements made after fights and to the press, I was in the crowd that thought Eddie Hearn didn’t want to do this. Of course Wilder and his team wanted it. Even though they have to know it is a dangerous fight, Deontay generates much less money. He made about $3 million against Luis Ortiz, for example. He will more than triple that against Anthony Joshua, for sure. Whether or not Hearn wanted this, it seems like both Anthony Joshua himself and money talk. Until contracts are signed this still could all fall apart, but for now I am very happy to have been wrong in thinking we wouldn’t see this fight any time soon.
