Joshua vs Wilder fight drags on as talks over money breaks down again

Fast Eddie has morphed into f-you Eddie upon Deontay Wilder telling him he will drop his demand from a 60-40 split in his favour to a straight 50-50 for a fight against Anthony Joshua for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world at Wembley Stadium on April 13.

Mister Hearn’s four-letter riposte was followed by this statement of Joshua’s terms, graduated against pay-per-view sales for Wilder’s world title fight with Tyson Fury in Los Angeles on December 1:

200,000-plus buys – 80 per cent for Joshua, 20 per cent for Wilder; 300,000-plus buys – 70-30; 500,000-plus buys – 60-40.

So how about 50-50? Only if Wilder-Fury pulls in one million or more viewers. And the likelihood of that according to Hearn? Not a cat in hell’s chance.

All this even before the twice-failed negotiations start again. And there is still a dispute over when they will resume real talks, as Hearn has also pointed out in America.

He wants a deal in principle before the Gypsy King and the Bronze Bomber get it on in L.A.. The Wilder team are waiting until the Fury fight is over, expecting yet another spectacular KO by their man to send his value through the roof on both sides of the Atlantic.

That would also add the Gypsy King’s lineal title to the Bronze Bomber’s own WBC belt, as against AJ’s WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO collection.

So fast was Eddie in responding that he became a mite confused himself, adding: ‘A 65-35 split in favour of AJ might be fair.’ That marks an improvement on the $15 million flat fee he initially offered Wilder, and on the 34 per cent Joseph Parker received when he lost to Joshua.