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Deontay Wilder has accused Anthony Joshua of turning down a $50 million offer to fight him.
Former heavyweight champion Wilder will fight on the same card as Joshua on December 23 in Saudi Arabia, but not against each other as hoped. Britain’s Joshua will face Otto Wallin and Wilder will face Joseph Parker.
Asked by Mail Sport why he isn’t fighting Joshua next, Wilder said: ‘He asked for $50 million (£40 million) and we provided that for him but he didn’t take it.
“And the only way you can ignore that is to make a joke about it, to try to make a joke about it, to try to make it seem to the audience that it’s not real.”
However, Wilder doesn’t just blame Joshua for the fight not being done yet. Instead he pointed the finger at Joshua’s promoters Matchroom. “It’s a deflection,” he said.
Anthony Joshua (left) has been accused by Deontay Wilder of turning down $50 million to fight him
The Bronze Bomber (left) will instead face Joseph Parker in Riyadh in December
Wilder spoke exclusively to Mail Sport’s Charlotte Daly (right) on Wednesday evening
‘It’s an ‘oh s*** moment’. They came up with $50 million. Therefore, Joshua does not speak much for himself, and when he does speak, he always makes mistakes and says things that do not speak to his people. And they have to clean up.
“It’s his management that’s keeping him from fighting me because, you know, he’s a fighter. It’s been more than six years (waiting for the fight). But there comes a point when you think, “Forget it.”
“A lot of times he wanted to fight, he wanted to accept it, but his handlers didn’t want it because Joshua is the moneymaker for the company. And if he goes down, so does the business.”
Wilder’s complaints aside, there is still hope that he and Joshua can fight each other next year if both make it through the December fights unscathed.