Joshua ready to sign Wilder contract – Hearn

Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua is ready to sign a contract to fight Deontay Wilder in April 2019 – and is “pretty confident” the American will “come to his senses” and follow suit.

WBC champion Wilder unleashed a tirade of abuse at his rival in June after it emerged the WBA had ordered Joshua to finalise a date for a mandatory title defence against Alexander Povetkin.

The Brit, who also holds the IBF, IBO and WBO straps, is set to fight Povetkin at Wembley in September but his promoter, Hearn, is optimistic a blockbuster bout with Wilder can be agreed at the same venue.

“I’m pretty confident. I think at the moment he [Wilder] is throwing his toys out of the pram and, eventually, we hope he’ll come to his senses.” Hearn told Sky Sports News.

“All the terms that were agreed by Deontay Wilder have now been put into the contract. They’ve had them now for over a month, and they haven’t done anything.

“So, I think what we’re going to do, we’re going to sign the contract.

“Anthony Joshua says let’s sign the contract and put it in front of them, rather than them thinking that we’re bluffing for some bizarre reason, or we don’t want the fight.

“Anthony’s going to have a press conference for his next fight next week and he’ll be in America as well, and it will be good to go out there and say we’ve done all we can.

“You’ve agreed these terms, we’ve now even signed the contract, so fingers crossed, April 13 at Wembley will be Joshua against Wilder.

“I’m confident it will be, because when you look at the other fights for Deontay Wilder, I don’t know who he is going to fight next, let alone in April, if he doesn’t find Anthony Joshua.”