As the new year arrived, there's still no word on who will be Deontay Wilder's next opponent.
Although many expected Tyson Fury to be Wilder's first opponent for 2019, Matchroom Sport is still making an effort to sign up Wilder for a fight against Anthony Joshua, albeit with little to no success. Matchroom Sport founder Barry Hearn, father to Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, spoke to Love Sport Radio and gave an update on the negotiations, or lack thereof, for a fight between Joshua and Wilder.
Of course, a fight between Joshua and Wilder would crown the next undisputed heavyweight champion as Joshua holds the WBA, WBO and IBF titles, but Barry revealed that Wilder's camp has not responded to none of his team's calls.
"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," Barry said.
A fight between the two boxers would produce one of the largest paydays of Wilder's career, but his most recent fight, a split draw against Fury in December, was considered a commercial success with at least more than 300,000 pay-per-view buys. A rematch is being explored with both sides expressing interest, but Barry believes fighting Joshua is definitively the most lucrative fight Wilder can take at this moment.
"We have offered him successively more and more, not just guarantee money, but percentage money. It will generate many times more than he has ever earned in his life, but there?s a certain level beyond which we won?t go because AJ is the A-side," Barry said.
Joshua is currently scheduled to defend his unified heavyweight titles at Wembley Stadium in London this coming April, but no opponent has yet to be named.