Shelly Finkel, the co-manager of WBC heavyweight world champion Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs), is shaking his head at the most recent statements that are coming from Eddie Hearn, who promotes IBF, WBO, WBA, IBO world champion Anthony Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs).
The two sides were unable to reach an agreement for a unification date in the fall - and now Joshua will make a mandatory defense against the WBA's top challenger, Alexander Povetin.
Wilder was slated to make a fee of $15 million for the Joshua bout - had it taken place by the end of this year.
Hearn stated in a recent interview that Wilder deserves less money to face Joshua on a proposed date of April 13, at Wembley in London - because Hearn explains that Joshua's worth will be higher by April - so he deserves to make more money from the fight.
Finkel, who is pretty firm in his belief that Joshua and Hearn had no intention of making a deal for this coming fall, is now wondering if Hearn is using another negotiating tactic to potentially delay the fight even further.
"I am not as smart as Eddie, I can't tell the future," Finkel told Sky Sports. "But I can tell you what happened in the past, just look at the last two fights of Joshua and the last two of Deontay and it is obvious who looked better. Having said that, I hope Joshua looks great against Povetkin.
"Barry and Eddie are very smart people. They know how to make a deal when they want to, obviously they also know how to not make a deal when they don't want to.
"Instead of wasting time and posturing with sending us silly papers that they know is going nowhere. Take the time and put something real on the table. Unless maybe this is their way of killing April, also?"
