Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn reveals talks for ‘must-make’ Deontay Wilder fight with Middle East keen hosts
EDDIE HEARN is in contact with Deontay Wilder’s representatives over a “must-make” fight with Anthony Joshua.
Hearn revealed he has exchanged emails with Wilder’s manager Shelly Finkel, having first reached out in August.
And it could pave the way for a heavyweight super-fight next year in the Middle East.
Speaking to iD Boxing in Abu Dhabi, Hearn said: “They actually emailed me today.
“I emailed him in August to talk about an offer. He came back today; it took a long while but at least he replied.
“That offer that we had for him was for this year, obviously, with our relationship out here, we’d like to continue that offer [for the Middle East].
READ MORE IN BOXING
“I actually invited Deontay and Shelly out here this week. They can’t come but we’ll be working with them and try and come up with some ideas.
“Again, it all depends on AJ if he waits to go into a fight like that or if he has a fight earlier in the year.
“But I see AJ vs Deontay Wilder as a must-make fight I really do I think it’s one of the biggest in the sport. They just want to know.
“They want to know the numbers. Of course, they should do as well because there’s a lot of money in play in the shows we do.
Most read in Boxing
HOW TO GET FREE BETS ON HORSE RACING
“I feel that we can hopefully have some discussions and see if AJ vs Wilder or Whyte against Wilder or whoever it is could be an option, particularly out here in the Middle East.”
Wilder, 37, returned with a bang in October by knocking out Robert Helenius, 38, in one round.
Meanwhile Joshua, 33, is taking time out to mentally recover from his consecutive defeats to Oleksandr Usyk, 35, most recently in August.
AJ is expected to fight again by the new year, but Hearn doubts Wilder will be his first opponent back despite the email dialogue.
He said: “Nah, literally it was a one-line email but look it’s positive and I think Deontay’s going to want the biggest fights out there and he knows that’s AJ and AJ has always wanted the Deontay Wilder fight so hopefully we can see it in 2023.”