Barry Hearn: We haven’t received one response from Wilder’s team to make Joshua fight

The founder of Matchroom Sport, Barry Hearn, has told Love Sport Radio that they have extended offer after offer to Deontay Wilder for a fight with Anthony Joshua, but that he just doesn’t appear to be that into the idea.

“Unfortunately [I have] to report that so far despite three, four emails, dozens of phone calls, we haven’t had one response from Deontay Wilder’s team.

“So sooner or later you take the hint that maybe they don’t want us that bad. But then they’re also, I guess, planning a Tyson Fury rematch.”

Really this is no surprise, though. Wilder-Fury was an exciting heavyweight match-up that really built some buzz among fans, particularly for its debatable draw, and Wilder has since made it clear that he intends to run it back with Fury before moving on. There’s also, of course, those who believe that Matchroom’s offers to Wilder have been little more than posturing for the media while they’ve had their own plans in mind since last year.

Whichever side you believe regarding negotiations between Wilder and Joshua — and who’s at fault for it not happening as soon as most would like — it’s clear that Wilder and Joshua won’t be fighting in April. I guess we’ll all just have to keep our fingers crossed for the second half of 2019.