Higgins made his position clear in a much-talked-about press conference last week and is holding out for a 65 percent split and not a penny less.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has stated he wants further wiggle room from Higgins, although the New Zealander says adding a rematch clause after providing evidence of Joshua’s ‘weak chin’, should seal the deal.
“We are at 35% and they’ve sort of come up to 30% which means the ball is still in their court,” Higgins exclusively told World Boxing News.
“We’re not going to move from 35% so that’s where it sits,” he vehemently added.
During his media gathering, Higgins pointed out the several times Joshua had been rocked or put on the canvas during his career in a bid to highlight Parker’s worth as a fighter who has never been dropped.
Hearn took time out to berate the staging of the presser though, and Higgins believes the Matchroom head is just deflecting from the truth and ultimately protecting his star fighter.
“What’s been overlooked is Eddie Hearn criticizing our press conference but totally avoiding the point of it, which means what we are saying is true. Joshua has been flattened ten times and he knows it,” stated Higgins.
“Eddie and AJ have skilfully avoided even going near that topic. They sat down with their PR and played on the narrative that we did a crap press conference, whilst totally avoiding the two most important things, mainly that Joshua does have a dodgy chin and the other being this is a worldwide unification bout for which he gets 65-35 and a rematch clause.
“I must admit they were pretty good how they handled it, but if you have Joshua saying he wants a legacy unification fight and he turns down 65 percent of net profit – plus a rematch clause – I think that would be embarrassing. And to then take a voluntary after that.”
Asked for an update on a venue after citing Barcelona’s Camp Nou as an ideal stadium to host the clash, Higgins added:
“It’s such a big event – an intercontinental unification, probably the biggest since Lennox Lewis so I take the approach of any city in Europe. We should consider any venue that wants to host it – that’s the clever approach once we get to agreed terms.”
Quizzed on whether Cardiff could be the favourite, he stated: “Cardiff is definitely a possibility but it could have economic benefits to anyone who stages it.
“You’re talking about maybe tens of thousands of visitors over a couple of days and it would have huge benefits for Cardiff or anywhere else, so it’s certainly an option.
“Once we get to what’s fair and negotiable we are looking at an event in late March or early April,” he concluded.
Phil Jay is Editor of World Boxing News. Follow on Twitter @PhilDJay
