Eddie Hearn admits he’s doubtful that a fight between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder will materialise, particularly with a showdown against Tyson Fury looming.
Joshua has been ringside alongside Hearn for both Wilder and Fury’s respective fights over the past fortnight and been called out by both.
Fury gave the more vocal callout of the pair, demanding that his long-time rival agreed to fight him next, in a furious ringside exchange following his victory over Arslanbek Makhmudov on Saturday.
Joshua made his first public appearances since being involved in a fatal car crash in Nigeria in December, which took the lives of two of his close friends.
The 36-year-old’s promoter, Hearn has targeted a July return for him followed by a Fury fight in November.
The Matchroom boss insists he’s open to matching ‘AJ’ with Wilder, but believes Saudi Arabian boxing chief, Turki Alalshikh, who has made them an offer, is less eager to gamble on a potential fight with Fury falling through by putting Joshua in with Wilder, who has a 95% knockout ratio.
“We are happy to fight Wilder next and then fight Tyson Fury,” the 46-year-old told media including Pro Boxing Fans on Tuesday.
“That’s not the offer that’s been made to us, because obviously His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] and Netflix, they’ve got a lot riding on it.
“And I think they want to get to it rather than have a riskier fight.
“But we would be comfortable taking that fight if the opportunity presented itself.
“We’ve discussed what sort of level that name would be and the money for that name and that’s not the money for Deontay Wilder fight, because that’s a big fight.
“We’ve also told them that if they want to do that fight, we’ll be interested.”
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Former heavyweight world champion, Wilder dropped Derek Chisora twice on route to a split decision win earlier this month.
The 40-year-old confronted ‘AJ’ after the bout and told him “Let’s do it next.”
Asked by Pro Boxing Fans who he’d prefer to face out of Fury and Wilder, a coy Joshua replied: “Both.”
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