Joshua vs Wilder Negotiations Update – Barry Hearn Now Involved

It appears everything that can be done by both sides is being done in the Joshua vs Wilder negotiations at the moment with Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn’s father Barry Hearn now in New York today to meet with Wilder manager Shelly Finkel in a bid to get the fight over the line.

The fact that Hearn senior is now involved shows just how serious people are in getting this fight made and that both parties want it on.

Speaking on television today on Sky Sports, Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn said his father Barry Hearn is negotiating today in New York:

“My old man’s in New York at the moment. I think he’s having a cup of coffee with Shelly Finkel right now. We’ve gone back, we’ve improved our offer. The conversations have been quite amicable and sensible.”

He continued:

“If he wants the fight it’s there we’ve improved our offer. I think it’s a very fair offer and if he (Wilder) doesn’t want to do the fight in September we can do it in December or February and we can sign the fight now – but we need to plan the next step. Joshua wants to fight in September so whether it’s Wilder or Povetkin there the two guys that will be next for Anthony Joshua and I think there will be a flip reverse of those two. It will be them for the next two fights. If he believes (Wilder) he can win the fight I still think he will take it (the offer).”

On when a decision needs to be made, Hearn said:

“I think we need to make a decision next week.”

He added:

“At the moment the answer is we are fighting (Alexander) Povetkin (next). If Wilder steps up and takes the fight, we’ll jump through hoops to make that fight next.”

It appears one way or another by next week we’ll know if Joshua vs Wilder is next up or not.