Earlier this week, Hearn had stated in the press that he wanted WBC heavyweight champion Wilder built up more towards being a Showtime PPV star ahead of a possible unification with IBF ruler Joshua.
As Hearn’s charge ‘AJ’ heads towards a unification with an aging Wladimir Klitschko on April 29, the Matchroom boss is already plotting what would be a massive four-belt battle between Joshua and Wilder in the future.
A date in the summer was thought to be earmarked for the contest to be staged on Showtime and Sky Sports’ paid formats, although Hearn’s comments brought up a debate from Wilder handler DiBella regarding any such fight taking place on US PPV.
“C’mon Eddie Hearn, PPV isn’t the holy grail or the mountain top. Limits viewers, fails to build new fans and separates people from their (money),” pointed out DiBella, to which Hearn quipped: “OK, you can tell (Deontay Wilder) he can take the fight for five times less money then!”
DiBella then added: “More homes will see Wilder v Washington on February 25 (on Fox TV) than have ever seen a heavyweight PPV anywhere,” which was met with, “There’s more to promotion than fight night, my man,” from Hearn.
It seems DiBella is quite happy with Wilder getting the exposure of fighting on non-paid TV networks in the United States, whilst Hearn has always championed Joshua as a Pay-Per-View figure since first signing him back in 2013.
That said, Joshua v Wilder is surely a worldwide PPV contest that can earn both sides a tidy sum, although ex-king Klitschko can have a big say in whether that fight even happens when he tests the Briton fully for the first time in his career this spring.
