There is a growing concern in the sport of boxing about financial exploitation and underpaying of boxers. Amongst many other notable athletes, Deontay Wilder recently made his case for fair pay for boxers. His comments come amid the news broke out of his rumored bout against Anthony Joshua on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk in the Middle East for a potential $400 Million super fight card.

Despite being rivals and foes with other heavyweights, the former heavyweight champion believes in this potential fight card to take place. To put off-court negotiation concerns to rest, in a recent interview, he discussed that boxers should help each other to be fairly compensated to make bouts happen.

Wilder demands his foes become allies to battle the ‘fighter pay’ issue

In recent times, off-court negotiations have become a hindrance for bouts to take place. Boxers and promoters tend to put sanctions and stipulations in their contracts to have the terms of the bout in their favor. Subsequently, the tussle to have it their way leads to ultimately the bout not taking place. For instance, despite showing interest to compete against one another, Fury and Usyk failed to come to an agreement and their potential fight fell through.

Wilder claims that combatants should help each other to get the best deal possible. In an interview with ESNEWS, Wilder stated, “I don’t do all that stuff,” He added, “I don’t put up too much of a fight as far as trying to get a fight done. I feel like we all can eat. That’s how we should be, being able to help each other eat.”

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Wilder also touched upon the contention of adequately compensating fighters. Reflecting upon the same, he contended, “It’s not about overpricing yourself out of a fight and sh*t like that because we’re all risking our lives, so damn, let us at least get a piece of the pie.” Wilder’s contention would not bring a drastic change in the boxing world overnight but it leads to more conversations about the ‘fighter pay’ issue.

Eddie Hearn is confident on Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder

Amidst the rumors of Joshua vs Wilder, Eddie Hearn stated that he foresees the fight to take place in the Middle-east after his meeting with investors in Riyadh. As per BoxingScene, he stated, “Obviously they want to make ‘AJ’ against Wilder and so do we, we’ll have to see what happens, no official offer yet but hopefully it comes this week.” 

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