Lennox Lewis tells Anthony Joshua to make Deontay Wilder fight happen by offering 60/40 or 70/30 financial split
The former undisputed heavyweight champion wants to see today’s best in the ring together
Lennox Lewis has publicly told Anthony Joshua to offer Deontay Wilder a 60/40 or 70/30 percentage split in order to get their fight made next year.
Lewis, the last undisputed heavyweight champion, has voiced his frustrations on multiple occasions in recent months as a bout to crown the next undisputed king has failed to come to fruition.
Like most fans, the now retired boxer has been annoyed by the ongoing saga of negotiations between Joshua’s and Wilder’s teams, and so he has now explained exactly how his fellow Brit should make a deal.
Lewis began: “This is the biggest bout in division. It will be both of their highest paydays ever.
“You don’t offer a check for this fight. You offer a split.
“I say 60/40 in AJ’s favour, maybe even 70/30, but not a flat fee. I took less to face Holyfield because I wanted to be undisputed.”
It is publicly known that Joshua’s side offered Wilder two flat fees of $12.5m and $15m for the bout during their talks earlier this year.
Despite the American agreeing to take the latter offer, the fight still didn’t happen as the WBA imposed a deadline for their champion AJ to take on his mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin instead.
As a result, Wilder made a separate deal to face Tyson Fury – a dramatic contest which ended in a controversial draw.
They look set to rematch next year, providing another barrier to negotiations for an undisputed title fight.
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Speaking earlier this week, Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn says it was unlikely the Briton and Wilder would meet on April 13.
Joshua has Wembley booked on that date and despite Hearn revealing talks with Fury, Dillian Whyte seems the most likely opponent for the heavyweight champion.
“We’ve got to sit down with Dillian and his team and see if there’s a deal to be done for April,” Hearn said.
“I don’t believe that Wilder will fight Joshua in April. We’ll sit down pretty much immediately and see if there’s a deal to be done. Dillian has become a pay-per-view fighter in his own right. He’s had two back-to-back pay-per-views that have done fantastic numbers.
“Both of them have been fight of the year contenders against Parker and against Chisora. So he’s in a great place.
“The feeling I get from Dillian is of course he wants a world title fight but he also wants to stay active, stay relevant, be in big fights, continue to improve.
“There’s no secret Joshua wants to fight the undisputed fight. But he also wants to fight Dillian Whyte."