Matchroom Sports promoter Eddie Hearn, who handles IBF, IBO, WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (19-0, 19 KOs), sees no reason to do unification with WBC champion Deontay Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs) in the United States - when the fight is so much bigger in the UK.
Joshua's April fight with Wladmir Klitschko brought in 90,000 fans to Wembley in London, and his upcoming fight - on October 28 - with Carlos Takam, will have 70,000 fans at Principality in Cardiff.
Wilder makes a mandatory defense of his belt on November 4 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, against Bermane Stiverne.
Wilder would like to have Joshua come over to the United States to fight him - but Hearn strongly believes the contest belongs on the UK.
"I look at that fight and I 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," Hearn told BoxingScene.com's Declan Taylor.
One of the issues in making a fight with Wilder, or WBO champion Joseph Parker, is the amount of money that both fighters will demand.
Hearn feels strongly neither of the other two champions are in a position to demand anything close to a 50-50 split of the money with Joshua.
All fighters have egos, and both Wilder and Parker feel that they are superstars in their respective countries.
And if they stand firm on receiving something close to a 50-50 financial split, Hearn does not see those fights coming off.
“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," Hearn said.
“But they will [demand that, because] in their head [they will] think - ‘I’m a champion, my belt is on the line, that is the split.’ If it is [their position], of course, the fights will never happen. But [Wilder and Parker are 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, [and] sometimes a split [is needed] that AJ doesn’t like to get those fights. But we’ll see. He’s in a great position.”
