Eddie Hearn has invited Deontay Wilder to attend Anthony Joshua’s fight on June 1 against Andy Ruiz Jr. at Madison Square Garden in New York. Matchroom Boxing promoter Hearn wants to have WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (41-0-1, 40 KOs) sit down with IBF/WBA/WBO champion Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs) to try and negotiate a unification fight to get it done for later this year.
However, Hearn isn’t sure if Wilder can get the 50-50 split that he’s asking for, but he says it’s a possibility that AJ might agree to it.
Hearn name dropping Wilder’s name to try and get him to come to the Joshua vs. Ruiz Jr. could be construed as an effort on his part to get more boxing fans interested in the Joshua-Ruiz Jr. fight.
It’s unlikely that Wilder, 6’7″, will bother attending the Joshua vs. Ruiz Jr. Wilder wanted to attend Joshua’s fight former WBO champion Joseph Parker last year so that he could get into the ring, but he wasn’t the green light by Hearn to be able to do that.
Both Joshua and Hearn didn’t want Wilder to enter the ring. A lot has changed in the past year, hasn’t it? Given that experience, Wilder likely won’t take Hearn up on the offer to attend the Joshua-Ruiz Jr. fight.
Joshua vs. Ruiz Jr. will be streamed on DAZN in the United States, and shown on Sky Box Office in the UK.