Wilder accepts terms for Joshua fight

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, Heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder accepted terms sent by the team of fellow champion Anthony Joshua for a possible mega-showdown this fall.

“We have agreed to the terms that Eddie has put out to us for a fight in the U.K. Deontay has accepted his terms to fight in the U.K.,” said Wilder adviser Shelly Finkel said. “Deontay sent an email to Joshua [Sunday] night, and I sent one [Monday] to Barry Hearn and Eddie telling them that we officially accept the offer to fight under the terms they gave us and to send us the contract.”

“Now we will see if they live up to it or if they try to go through with the fight with [mandatory challenger Alexander] Povetkin first. Hopefully, we’ll get an answer in the next couple days,” Finkel said. “If they change their mind, the $50 million [against 50 percent of the event] we offered them [to come to the United States] is still on the table. That is still for them if they want it.”

“There’s no [percentage] split, but they’ve offered us a good purse. Not as good as we feel it should be, but we want the fight, and we’re willing to take what they offered,” Finkel said. “We wanted a percentage, but we didn’t think we could get it done in a quick time frame, so we said let’s take what they’ve offered us. Deontay wants this fight.”

Wilder addressed Joshua’s fans on social media on Monday, writing, “The $50M offer for him to fight me next in the U.S. is still available. Today I even agreed to their offer to fight Joshua next in the UK. If he prefers the fight in the UK, the ball is in their court. It’s up to them to choose.”

“The U.S. TV is Eddie’s call,” Finkel said. “We have a preference for Showtime because we’ve been with them.”