EDDIE HEARN has revealed that Deontay Wilder is the number one priority for Anthony Joshua’s April 13 date at Wembley.
Writing in the Mail, the Matchroom promoter has insisted that a contract has to be signed within the next six weeks, otherwise the likes of Dillian Whyte could be given a shot.
With Joshua looking to become the first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis, Hearn has stressed he must hear back from the Bronze Bomber’s team soon.
The American recently confirmed he will take on Tyson Fury in Las Vegas on December 1, putting a potential fight with AJ in jeopardy.
Hearn wrote: “Next up, we have to wait and see. As I’ve said, we want to fight Deontay Wilder to see if we can find an undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
“The wider picture is that our next mandatory is the WBO and then after that it is the IBF.
“We would likely be granted an exemption with the WBA for April 13 even if it isn’t a unification with Wilder, and as we’ve said before, Dillian Whyte is an option.
“Right now I would say it is even money between it being Whyte or Wilder but we do want Wilder.
“He says he is fighting Tyson Fury on December 1 but we cannot wait until that fight to make our decision on AJ’s career.
“I would like to know where we are with Wilder’s team in the next five or six weeks because we cannot really go longer than that.”
“I would make an offer to Wilder’s team on the assumption of him beating Fury. I obviously get that Wilder’s value goes up if he wins that fight, so the offer will reflect that.
“We started contact again about a week ago after not hearing anything for a while.
“We have made an agreement with them in the past and signed our end, but now we need to make progress on a new agreement for April if it is going to happen.”
Joshua, 28, silenced his critics on Saturday with an emphatic seventh round stoppage against Alexander Povetkin, as he became the first man to knock out the Russian.
The performance from AJ was even more impressive considering he suffered a suspected broken nose at the end of the first round.
