American boxer, Deontay Wilder has revealed that Anthony Joshua turned down a $50million (£40m) offer to fight him.
Wilder, the former heavyweight champion, will fight on the same December 23 card in Saudi Arabia. Joshua will fight Otto Wallin and Wilder will fight Joseph Parker.
When asked by Mail Sport why he is not fighting Joshua next, Wilder said: ‘He asked for $50million (£40m) and we provided that for him and he did not take it.
“And the only way you can disregard that is to make a mockery of it, try to make a joke of it, try to make it seem to the public that it’s not real.”
Wilder also blamed Joshua’s promoters Matchroom for the fight not being fixed yet.
He said: “It’s a deflection.
“It’s an ‘oh s*** moment’. They came up with $50m. That’s why they don’t have Joshua speaking a lot on his own behalf and if he does speak he always slips up and says things that are not appealing to his people. And they have to play clean up.
“It’s his management that have held him back from fighting me because, you know, he’s a fighter. It’s been over six years (waiting for the fight to be made). But there comes a point in time we’re you’re like, forget it.
“Many times he wanted to fight, he wanted to accept it but his handlers didn’t want it because Joshua is the money-maker for the company. And if he goes down, so does the business.”
Meanwhile, there are still possibilities they could fight next year if both come through their December fights victorious.
