In this video interview caught by FightHub, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn gives us some perspective on when he’s looking to make heavyweight unification fights between his fighter, Anthony Joshua, and two of the other titleholders in the division.
“I think the [Deontay] Wilder fight is one for next summer. I’d like [Wilder] to fight Dillian Whyte, I mean I’ve talked to his guys again today...and the winner fights Josh. [Joseph] Parker’s a fight we could look at in February or March. But, you know, we’ve got a WBA mandatory, potentially, I don’t know. But I think the main aim is to fight three times next year, and I’d like two of those to be for additional belts. It doesn’t always work out like that but the aim is to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. And I think it’s on...”
On bringing Joshua Stateside to fight:
“I think an international fight is a possibility. He really doesn’t want to leave the U.K. and Britain because his fanbase is incredible and what we’re doing over here, it’s never really been seen before — um, the numbers. But he is the world heavyweight champion, there is demand from many countries to stage AJ fights and it’s something we have to look at, potentially early 2018...”
On if bringing Joshua to the States would help build a Wilder showdown:
“But again, I look at that fight and think actually the place to build the Wilder fight is here [in the UK]. I mean, neither guy is a huge star in America yet, so we’ll have to see but that fight is huge in Britain. So everything tells me that maybe Britain is the place for that fight.”
On negotiating an appropriate split with the other heavyweight champions:
“Well that’s one of the problems, because you cannot possibly think that a fighter with the commercial value — like particularly Joseph Parker and Deontay Wilder — should warrant anywhere near a 50% split in that pot, and it’s not being disrespectful. It’s just fact.
“But they will, in their head, think ‘I’m a champion, my belt’s on the line, that is the split.’ If it is, of course, the fights will never happen. But they’re still gonna get absolutely giant paydays from fighting Josh on whatever they’re offered. They’ve got to be treated with respect, it’s not just a case of ‘there’s a couple million, take the fight.’ But they’ve also got to understand the size of Anthony Joshua. But also we understand that we want the belts, the public wants to see those fights. So we have to try to make them — sometimes a split that AJ doesn’t like to get those fights. But we’ll see. He’s in a great position.”