Stop running away from me, Wilder tells Joshua

Deontay Wilder has accused Anthony Joshua of ducking him and has teased insider information to back up his claim, reports express.co.uk. The Bronze Bomber believes the writing was on the wall after Joshua’s ‘fishy’ response to attempts to stage the blockbuster showdown back in 2018.

Five years ago, when both men were still world champions, Wilder’s representatives approached Joshua with a massive £40.5 million ($50m) fight offer. However, Joshua turned down the contract after raising concerns about how the deal affected his long-standing partnerships.

Speaking to iFL TV at the time, he said: “So, let’s say that 50 million we talked about. Listen, it’s a hell of a lot of money and it was an honour to even have that number thrown at me. But then when you dissected it and what it actually was, it was kind of like a rights fee – ‘We own you for this amount of money’.

“The issue I had was that I’ve got long-standing contracts in place with certain partnerships. So, you may put that money forward and think that you own me 100 per cent, but you may only own 50 per cent so that makes their 50 per cent worth 25 per cent. So, when you start getting into the intricacies of a contract and what the real value is, that’s when that starts taking place.

“So, the $50m was unbelievable, it’s a great number, but there are things in place that don’t make that $50m worth it to the person paying it.”

Communication lines between both parties recently opened up again with AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn and Wilder’s manager Shell Finkel touching base over email.

Hearn is hopeful that a fight can be made at the back end of this year after Joshua’s coming clashes with Jermaine Franklin and Dillian Whyte.