Joshua receives huge pay to fight Wilder, Fury in Saudi Arabia

Anthony Joshua has been approached by Saudi Arabia to stage a mega-fight with the winner of Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury, according to AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn. Joshua beat Andy Ruiz Jr in December out in the Gulf state to win back his world titles.

The site-fee which was paid by Saudi officials to host the fight was reported to be £30million.

And according to Hearn, they want to host Joshua’s eventual clash with either Wilder or Fury.

“Right now, the fight that Anthony Joshua wants is the winner of Wilder and Fury.

“We’ve been there before, both guys have turned down 60-40 for that fight and now we have no other option, but to offer them 50-50, because the fight will never happen, subject to the boss giving the thumbs up, which I think he knows that’s the way to make this fight.

“We have a huge site offer in place for that fight to take place.”

Hearn also said that Joshua would most likely face Kubrat Pulev in the summer of this year, with London the most likely venue.

“Kubrat Pulev is the frontrunner,” said Hearn. “I think we’ve established that the IBF mandatory was called before the WBO mandatory.

“Pulev is the fight for me, and more importantly for the boss, AJ, he wants it here.

“He’s boxed now in Saudi Arabia for his last fight, he’s boxed in New York before that.

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“For me, it’s time to come home. The bad news is that Kubrat Pulev wants as much money as possible for this fight and he realises there’s more money in Istanbul, or Saudi Arabia, or the Congo, or Nigeria, but AJ is going to call the shots.