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Home » EXCLUSIVE: Eddie Hearn on Joshua v Wilder CONTRACT, DATES, NEW VENUE and Povetkin DEAL STATUS

EXCLUSIVE: Eddie Hearn on Joshua v Wilder CONTRACT, DATES, NEW VENUE and Povetkin DEAL STATUS

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The Joshua Wilder fight is alongside Canelo Golovin 2 as the two biggest fights in world boxing and on Monday Wilder’s manager Shelley Finkel told WBN in a world exclusive they had accepted Hearn’s offer for the fight to happen in the UK.

Up until then, it looked like Joshua would face Alexander Povetkin to fulfil his WBA mandatory obligations, but now these fresh developments mean Joshua could face Wilder next.

Speaking exclusively to World Boxing News in Newcastle on Thursday, Hearn said: “We made an offer four weeks ago and they came back on Monday – three and a half weeks later to accept – we thought the fight was dead, we had got the Povetkin fight ready for September.

“But we take this very seriously because it’s a fight Joshua wants, now we’re putting the contract together and expect to have it with them close of play tomorrow.

“Hopefully they’re for real; a lot of people have said they are only accepting the offer because they heard we were going to fight Povetkin,” Hearn added.

Due to the weather in Britain, if Joshua v Wilder was to happen at Wembley this year it would have had to of been in September, but the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff is still an option due to the Welsh National venue having a roof.

“Originally the plan was September for Wilder at Wembley, we want it at Wembley badly,” Hearn explained.

“We can’t do that now, because firstly Canelo and Golovkin have taken the date (in September) and secondly, ten weeks isn’t long enough to do the worldwide media tours you would need for this fight.

“Now we are looking October/November but it would have to be in Cardiff, which isn’t a problem so we wil llook at it and the dates.

“Joshua is in camp now, but if it drags on we will fight Povetkin which doesn’t mean we stop with Wilder.

“We would still sign for the fight with Wilder but it would have to be after Povetkin, I’m not having Joshua’s career held up by Wilder.

“We wont let it drag out, this is a great fight for DAZN and they want to know because it’s a lot of money for them, so they need to know soon,” he concluded.

Thomas Davison is a staff writer for World Boxing News. Follow Thomas on Twitter @thomasdavison93