As if Eddie Hearn did not have enough problems on his hands, one more has now emerged. The problems surrounding the Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury fight are growing more complicated by the day. Days after a dispute over the showdown’s promotional rights with UFC CEO Dana White dominated the headlines, the issue has now shifted to the potential date and venue for the much-anticipated showdown.

Just when he is trying to fix things, Eddie Hearn is forced to confront a new controversy. This one involves Anthony Joshua’s purse for his comeback fight against Kristian Prenga that took place a month ago. Some reports indicate the former heavyweight champion has yet to receive a portion of the purse. When pressed about those concerns, Hearn offered a response that may leave many surprised and perhaps only lead to more questions.

“I’m not going to go into that at the moment. That’s a contractual position that will be left for another day,” Hearn told Kugan Cassius.

The Matchroom head’s curt reply visibly left the iFL TV founder, and perhaps many viewers, puzzled. What is the problem with sharing those details? Even if inaccurate, it’s well documented that Anthony Joshua was supposed to receive £4 million, or $5.4 million, for the fight that took place on July 25 in Riyadh’s Jeddah Superdome. His opponent would, meanwhile, take home £1 million or $1.3 million.

Based on his comments, the reason can only be speculated for now. Hearn’s reservation about sharing the details of AJ’s purse likely stems from the latest developments surrounding the Fury fight.

In a detailed report, BoxingScene reported that following the rising dispute over the staging of the showdown, which several reports suggested is expected to take place on November 20 in New York’s Madison Square Garden, Hearn’s Matchroom, after putting its foot down, is seemingly willing to adjust.

However, he has a few conditions. To address them, Hearn has submitted an addendum to SELA, which, alongside Turki Alalshikh’s Riyadh Season, is one of the parties involved in the fight.

In that notice, BoxingScene revealed that Hearn and team have stated unequivocally that they will not accept the role of Dana White and his Zuffa Boxing in promoting the fight, as was rumored previously.

A few days ago, Hearn seemingly threatened a lawsuit if White and his team did not back off from negotiating venue deals for the superfight.

Beyond that, the addendum reportedly addressed regular issues related to ticketing, security, and transport.

But the most critical point, the one about which Hearn does not seem willing to open up either, concerned the money Joshua was expected to receive. To understand that, it is important to go into a little background.

The contractual issue linking Anthony Joshua, Riyadh Season and Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom

Billed as The Comeback, the AJ-Prenga fight was promoted by Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, while Frank Warren’s Queensberry and Goldstar were the co-promoters.

But as it increasingly appears, Hearn’s team largely played the role of putting the boxing show together and bringing Joshua to the event.

Which, in other words, means that Matchroom wasn’t essentially the ultimate source of every dollar of Joshua’s fight purse. On paper, the contract officially determines who is actually responsible for paying whom.

To understand that complicated situation, it is important to note that, coming off his win over Jake Paul in December last year, AJ found himself in a difficult situation after two of his close friends and team members, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele, passed away in a tragic road accident.

Considering the emotional toll it had on him, for some time AJ’s future appeared uncertain. However, the former champion decided to move forward from those clouds of grief and chart out a new chapter, in which the showdown against Fury became the primary goal.

To further that goal, he signed a multi-fight deal with Riyadh Season. The Prenga fight was the first one in that contract. In addition, the English heavyweight was made a Riyadh Season ambassador as well.

Taking those developments into account, the BoxingScene piece states, “Matchroom is seeking to ensure Joshua collects his remaining purse earnings from his second-round knockout of Kristian Prenga on July 25 in Saudi Arabia…”

So to summarize, Matchroom is effectively saying that it is considering staging the momentous show. However, to do so, they want to ensure that financial obligations from the previous event are properly settled.

Addressing the part of the addendum that reads, “Pay all other funds owed to Matchroom for prior boxing events,” Hearn’s explanation to Kugan Cassius provides some hints.

“So that’s actually been tinkered with, but that’s pretty straight in terms of a meeting that was had with SELA, I know, a couple of weeks back, which is basically the money that we’re owed for the contract signing,” Hearn explained. “Nothing; we’re not asking for additional years of events; we’re just asking for money that’s owed. I don’t want to go too much into that because that’s another time and place for that….”

A review of Joshua’s career reveals that, if true, this could be the first time he is facing such a payout-related problem.

To set the record straight, it may not be fair to compare the AJ issue with the multi-million-dollar confrontation between Mike Tyson and Don King. It is also fairly well known that lower-tier fighters often get the short end of the stick when it comes to unpaid purses.

Viewed through that lens, Anthony Joshua’s issue cannot be strictly compared to those cases. It is still an issue that remains under consideration by the sides involved.

By adding that requirement to his addendum, Hearn has only shown his concern for his friend and star fighter while also making it clear that the outstanding issue needs to be resolved as soon as possible before the Fury fight can move forward.