Former unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has reportedly removed the rematch clause from the contract for the upcoming fight against Dillian Whyte on 12th August, as claimed by none other than his promoter Eddie Hearn.
Anthony Joshua accepts Whyte’s demand to remove rematch clause says Hearn
The two Brits are in the advanced stages of negotiations for a showdown in August. After the fight almost fell apart just a few weeks ago due to disagreement on initial terms- especially after Hearn’s offer to Whyte’s team was thumbed down on grounds of financial insufficiency.
The initial assumption was that Hearn would make a different consideration so a common ground could be found between the two parties, but after Joshua decided to look for other challenges, “The Body Snatcher” came forward to openly accept the offer.
However, after Hearn sent the contract to Whyte once again, the former interim WBC champ now demanded to have the rematch clause removed from the contract, which AJ has also accepted.
“Anthony Joshua is about to fight Deontay Wilder for 50 or 60 million dollars. He’s choosing to take a dangerous fight a few months before where if he loses, he’s really quite out in the wilderness and loses the Wilder fight in December,” Hearn told Boxing Social. “Against my advice, Anthony Joshua came out last night and said, ‘I don’t give a f**k about the rematch clause. I’m going to knock him out. So just tell him to sign the contract.”‘
“Dillian Whyte had replied to us and said, ‘I’m not gonna do any promotion around the event, I don’t want a rematch clause, blah, blah, blah,'” the promoter went on, “so we’ve just gone back now and given him [a young contender’s] promotional requirements, no rematch clause, August 12, done.”
All that being said, Hearn is skeptical about Whyte actually accepting the offer.
“I don’t think they’re gonna sign it. I hope they do. AJ wants this fight bad,” he added. [H/T talkSPORT]
