The highly anticipated fight between Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua may finally go down. Wilder has agreed to the terms offered by Joshua's camp for the two heavyweight titans to meet for the undisputed title later this year in Joshua's home country of the United Kingdom, Wilder co-manager Shelly Finkel confirmed Monday (June 11).
Official terms have not been signed yet, but the Wilder camp says they've agreed to the terms in the latest offer made by Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing. "We have agreed to the terms that Eddie has put out to us for a fight in the U.K. Deontay has accepted his terms to fight in the U.K.,"
Finkel said. "Deontay sent an email to Joshua [Sunday] night, and I sent one [Monday] to Barry Hearn and Eddie telling them that we officially accept the offer to fight under the terms they gave us and to send us the contract."
Money and location have been the key hang-ups in the talks to get the fight done. Joshua is a major star in the United Kingdom, where he has drawn sellout crowds for his past three fights. He has insisted on having the fight there even though the overall revenue for the match could be greater in Las Vegas.
Wilder's camp has held out hope of Joshua agreeing to come to the United States, but he has also been adamant, almost desperate about making the fight happen regardless of what he has to give up. He previously offered Joshua a $50 million purse and is now giving in on the location.
"Now we will see if they live up to it or if they try to go through with the fight with [mandatory challenger Alexander] Povetkin first. Hopefully, we'll get an answer in the next couple days," Finkel said. "If they change their mind, the $50 million [against 50 percent of the event] we offered them [to come to the United States] is still on the table. That is still for them if they want it."
Finkel and Wilder co-manager Al Haymon say the offer Wilder accepted is a two-fight deal with terms agreed to for a rematch that would take place in the United States. The first fight is slated for later this year either in October or November.
The target date was Sept. 15, but that is the proposed date for the rematch between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin which they do not want to compete with. The money Wilder would earn was not specified but Hearn made two previous offers of $12.5 million and $15 million. Finkel said they accepted a guaranteed purse but did not get a percentage of the overall event, which means Wilder was likely offered a large enough guarantee above $15 million that would make it worthwhile for him to forgo a percentage.
"There's no [percentage] split, but they've offered us a good purse. Not as good as we feel it should be, but we want the fight, and we're willing to take what they offered," Finkel said. "We wanted a percentage, but we didn't think we could get it done in a quick time frame, so we said let's take what they've offered us. Deontay wants this fight."
Wilder addressed Joshua's fans on Twitter Monday, writing, "The $50M offer for him to fight me next in the U.S. is still available. Today I even agreed to their offer to fight Joshua next in the UK. If he prefers the fight in the UK, the ball is in their court. It's up to them to choose."
The 28-year-old Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs) won a world title in 2016 and has made five defenses, including a 10th-round knockout of former longtime unified world champion Wladimir Klitschko in 2017, unifying three belts with the win against Parker on March 31. Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs), 32, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, won his belt in 2015 and has made seven title defenses, including scoring a massive 10th-round knockout of then-unbeaten top contender Luis "King Kong" Ortiz in an exciting fight on March 3.
Fans are now waiting for Joshua and Wilder to face off against each other. It's up to Joshua and his camp if they will see it happen.
