Deontay Wilder told to get serious about Anthony Joshua fight

Eddie Hearn has urged Deontay Wilder to get serious over a proposed fight with Anthony Joshua and believes a meeting between the pair could be easily arranged if the WBC Champion truly wanted to step in the ring with his English counterpart.

Wilder, currently preparing to defend his title against wily operator Luiz Ortiz, recently called on Joshua to fight him in the US but believes Hearn doesn't want to organise a bout between the 'Bronze Bomber' and his prized heavyweight as he doesn't want to "upset his gravy train".

But Hearn, who recently talked up the possibility of a fight between Joshua and Tyson Fury, who is preparing to make a comeback to the sport he was at the pinnacle of, rubbished Wilder's suggestions and seemed to question the 32-year-old's intent to dominate the heavyweight division, which could be unified by Joshua when he goes toe-to-toe with Joseph Parker in Cardiff next month.

Wilder apparently wants an evenly split purse to fight Joshua, but Hearn, whose stable includes the likes of Kell Brook and Tony Bellew, thinks the American is dreaming if he thinks such an agreement will materialise and has told him to make a realistic offer to fight Joshua or forget the prospect altogether.

"They said 'oh we'll take the Dillian Whyte fight if it means the Joshua fight.'" Hearn told Fight Hub TV, relayed by Bad Left Hook."I said 'ok, well let's talk about that.'

"Wilder made it very clear he wants 50/50 in the Joshua fight, which is not going to happen. So once he said that we had the Parker fight there, we said 'look, we'll deal with the people who want the fight.'

"This guy Wilder, he talks about 'I'm willing to fight anybody, I'll fight them all' — have you ever made an offer, or a serious offer, to Joseph Parker, another world champion? He says he wants all the belts, he wants the one champion.

"[Did he make an offer to] Joseph Parker, no. Have you ever made a serious offer to Wladimir Klitschko when he had the belt, or Tyson Fury? No, you haven't. Have you ever made an offer to us, to fight Anthony Joshua? No.

"So how serious can you be and how keen to unify this division if haven't even made any serious or considerable offers to the champions? Can't be that serious. And we could make the Joshua fight [happen] against Wilder, if he was just serious. Or if he was, you know, sensible."