Eddie Hearn has confirmed that Anthony Joshua has received an offer to fight Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia.
According to Hearn, Skill Challenge Entertainment have reached out to Joshua as the fighter gets ready to return to the ring in August to potentially face Dillian Whyte following his win over Jermaine Franklin.
This would fuel claims that the Saudis are intent on hosting a four-man heavyweight tournament in Saudi at the back end of the year.
‼️ Eddie Hearn has declared that they have now received an offer from Saudi Arabia's Skill Challenge Entertainment for Anthony Joshua to fight Deontay Wilder in December, but no contract yet. [@IFLTV] pic.twitter.com/C8woWc5utd
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) June 8, 2023
In contrast, Wilder has been out of the ring since his first-round victory over Robert Helenius, as the American vows to get back to big-time boxing.
And yet, Hearn admitted that the offer was not a formal written one, showing that there was still some way to go before an agreement could be reached.
“We have an offer without a contract. So we need to wait on that contract. Just discussing it, we had an email conversation today. “We’ve got a call probably later today. Like I said, AJ is fighting on August 12th, we’d like it to be against Dillian Whyte, we’ll see if we can make a deal,” Hearn
The news generated a big social media response, with the boxing community hoping that the mega fight could finally get made.
Social Media Reaction
Mega fight
— Banda Propaganda (@bigboxingguy) June 8, 2023
Hurry up with that contract ASAP!!! 😉🥊
— Steve Spevack (@SteveSpevack) June 8, 2023
This will break records.
— Joel (@JoelMilly) June 8, 2023