Former world champion and Sky Sports pundit Johnny Nelson believes WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) should accept an offer of $12.5 million to fight IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO champion Anthony Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs) in one of the most anticipated fights in the sport.

Wilder and his handlers are not very happy with the offer - despite it being far more than Wilder's biggest payday to date of around $2.5 million.

They plans to send a counter-offer, but it's unknown if that offer has departed yet.

Wilder's team, who requested a 60-40 revenue split (in Joshua's favor), believe the contest is worth a lot more - which promoted Joshua to request a $50 million guarantee and calling on Wilder's team to prove their belief that the heavyweight contest of worth at least $100 million.

Nelson believes Wilder should take the money and apply pressure on his team to make the fight take place.

"This is what the public want. All roads lead to this fight. In this situation here, Deontay Wilder is never going to get paid any higher, any bigger with anybody else, bar Anthony Joshua. If they do turn this down, or he wants the lion's share, it's just not going to happen," Nelson told Sky Sports.

"I don't think this is down to Wilder, I think it's down to his team around him, because he's the kind of guy who says 'Yes, let's do this, I want this fight, no matter what'. As a fighter, if he's been offered five times more than what he's been paid before as an undefeated world champion, and he turns it down, it doesn't look good for him."

If no fight with Wilder takes place, then Joshua is either going to fight WBA mandatory challenger Alexander Povtekin of Russia or travel to the United States for a voluntary title defense against Jarrell Miller.