Eddie Hearn, promoter for IBF, IBO, WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs) is just about there with respect to a finalized agreement for his boxer to take on WBO champion Joseph Parker (24-0, 18 KOs) in a high profile unification.

A few days ago, word broke of a near deal when David Higgins, promoter for Parker, revealed that a purse split was formally agreed upon - after it appeared at one point that both sides would not be able to get on the same page.

For weeks the two sides were negotiating hard over the revenue split - which sat for quite a while at 65-35 in Joshua's favor. A deal was reached where Parker will receive a percentage between 30 to 35%.

Hearn aims to finalize and announce the contest in the early part of 2018.

The fight is being positioned for the date of March 31, possibly in Cardiff, Wales where Joshua stopped Carlos Takam before a crowd of 78,000 at Principality in October.

"We are working hard to try and finalise the deal and are very hopeful," Hearn told Sky Sports. "There is no fight until the contract is signed. Either way, AJ's next fight will be announced in early 2018."

In order to reach the agreement on the money, Higgins reveals that both sides had to bend a bit on the money.

Higgins believes there is likely chance that he'll be boarding a plane to London next week to wrap the deal up.

"In my view that fight has got a whole lot more realistic and it's as close as it's ever been between Joshua and Parker," Higgins told Sky Sports.

"The breakthrough being there has been a small compromise on both sides and we finally agreed the purse split ratio. That I believe is the most important hurdle to agreeing a fight of this magnitude. Both camps are now happy with the ratio they are receiving.

"We've met somewhere between 30 and 35 percent, but I haven't said it publicly. Eddie Hearn has sent me a contract based on the [Wladimir] Klitschko contract, and I'm going through it with my lawyer making changes, today, tomorrow, and I'll be getting it back to him.

"We're very close and there's a high chance I'll board a flight to London at the end of next week to try and finalize a deal."