Shelly Finkel sets the record straight about the failed Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder negotiations
Shelly Finkel, co-manager of WBC champion Deontay Wilder went on record to reveal why negotiations with Eddie Hearn failed involving the undisputed heavyweight title bout between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder. This is a recollection of a conversation with Hearn in December 2018.
In a recent interview on talkSPORT, Mr. Finkel said the following:
“I’ve told this story off the record, but I’ll say it the way it is. Eddie called me and he said ‘can we meet?’. I said ‘Let’s do it on the phone.’
“He said ‘look I got a big offer for you’ and I said ‘I don’t want any offers from you.’ I said ‘The Eddie/Joshua show is over!’
“If you want to make a fight, we sit down and make a fight. We worry about what the split is when we sit down. Then we’ll go out to promote the fight to make it the biggest fight possible.
“He said ‘That’s fine with me.’ When do you want to meet? I said I’ll send you an email. I’ll look at my calendar.
“I sent him an email saying Friday the 14th at 3:00 pm. He never responded. I never heard from him.
“I come home that evening and on this phone, the answering machine had a message from him that he called at 3:00 pm.
“So I called him at 10:00 pm that evening and said ‘Eddie you never responded to my email. You have my office number, my email address and my mobile number. Why didn’t you try any of those numbers.’
“Eddie replies ‘I can’t talk now, I’m in a restaurant. How about tomorrow?’
“I said ‘what time?’
“He said ’10:00 am.’
“I said ‘I will call you at 10 am.’
“I called him at 10:00 am and he never answered, never returned the call. That afternoon and evening Joshua is interviewed at MSG and he says ‘look what does the guy want I’m giving him Wembley!’
“We’re not looking for a handout. We’re looking to make the right deal for the two fighters.”
Finkel would go on to say that both Hearn and Joshua need to get off their high horse. The ongoing saga between the two camps has been frustrating for the fans who want to see the next undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis almost twenty years ago.
There is some hope that they will fight. Perhaps by the end of the year, barring Wilder wins his next bout and Joshua gets passed Jarrell Miller June 1.
By: Garrisson Bland
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