When Skills Challenge Promotions first disclosed their interest in staging Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder over in Saudi Arabia they promised that all parties involved would receive a ‘premium price’ for their services. For Joshua that ‘premium price’ will be £47.3million ($60m), according to his promoter Eddie Hearn.
Hearn dropped the figure in an interview with Froch on Fighting while discussing the ongoing negotiations for Joshua’s rematch with Dillian Whyte. Whyte has accepted the financial side of the deal but was concerned about his career being held up by a rematch clause inserted into the initial contract.
Hearn has since revealed that the clause was removed at AJ’s request in order to get the fight on in August with a blockbuster showdown against Wilder expected to follow in December. Meetings for the Wilder fight are scheduled to take place this week in London as they look to finalise the paperwork for the money-spinning clash.
Skills Challenge had hoped to stage the long-awaited undisputed fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk on the same card but that now looks extremely unlikely. Fury’s promoter Frank Warren isn’t confident that the timeframe will work out for his client and claims no offer has been made to Queensbury Promotions from the Saudis.
Skills Challenge Head of Boxing Amer Abdallah told Express Sport earlier this month that the only reason the two scintillating showcases wouldn’t take place is if “certain individuals didn’t want the fight to happen” but claimed that Fury and Usyk were ‘on board’ at the time.
“Tyson wants the fight, from what I understand. I know George [Warren] wants the fight and Frank [Warren] wants the fight at Queensberry,” he said.
“Usyk definitely wants the fight. AJ wants the fight. Eddie [Hearn] wants the fight. Shelly [Finkel] wants the fight. Deontay wants the fight. I mean, there’s nothing that should prevent this from happening. And, the offer that will be made from Skill Challenge will be a very good offer.
“It won’t be one that we’re going to go back and forth with. It’s going to be a premium price, and we’re going to offer it to these guys and pay them their market value, if not, maybe even a little bit more. We’re going to put on great fights and a great event. If anything prevents this fight from happening it’s because certain individuals don’t want the fight to happen, it won’t be because the money isn’t there.”