Deontay Wilder warns Anthony Joshua over first round knock out and reveals purse demands

Deontay Wilder insists he will not step in the ring with Anthony Joshua for anything less than a 50-50 split of the fight purse.

After stopping Carlos Takam in October, reigning IBF and WBA 'super' champion Joshua is now out to conquer the heavyweight world with unification bouts with WBC champion Wilder and WBO champion Joseph Parker firmly in his sights.

Eddie Hearn has laid out plans for the 2012 Olympic champion to meet New Zealander Parker first in early 2018 before a unification clash with Wilder next summer. The Joshua camp have been deadlocked in talks with Parker's camp, however, with Parker and his manager David Higgins demanding a 35-65 split of the fight purse in Joshua's favour – an arrangement Hearn insists will not happen.

Despite the impasse, Wilder believes Parker will remain their top priority for now and expects that fight to take place before any meeting between him and Joshua.

He said in an interview with ESPN: "I don't think they are trying to make a negotiation at this point. I think they are trying to seek Parker. They got him on his agenda. [He is] their top priority which is fine. If they want to have one fight apiece and fight me next, that is fine."

Having watched negotiations rumble on between the Joshua and Parker camps, Wilder already knows what he wants from a fight with the British heavyweight. While Hearn has insisted a 50-50 split will happen "over his dead body," Wilder warns he will walk away from talks if he doesn't get what he feels he deserves.

"It is a great fight, it is one of the biggest fights in the world and everyone wants it," Wilder said. "It will be a 50-50 or else we don't see a fight.

"If they want to use splits, not to make a fight happen, then so be it. It is not like I am asking for more. I am saying this a 50-50 fight and that is how it is. In the rematch, then we can talk about 60-40 splits or whatever. That is more acceptable.

"At the end of the day, whether we fight or not, the pressure is not on me, it is going to be on him."

In Wilder, Joshua would face an opponent with a knockout record even more fearsome than his own, with the Alabama-native having ended 19 of his 39 fights inside the first round. And he is confident a similar fate awaits the Briton.

"I knock Joshua out and don't be surprised if it is in the first round. But I definitely knock Joshua out. When it all boils to this beautiful fight happening, they are not going to care about splits. On this night, on this day, in this moment, they are going to care about who is the best – officially.

"And at the end of the night, they will take away a brilliant fight and understand who is the best in the world. They will have one champion, one name, Deontay Wilder, who will be standing with his hands in the sky."