No turning back for Joshua now he is in with the big guys

‘After Klitschko it is Deontay Wilder’

For Anthony Joshua, the easy nights are over. His third?round blowout of the reluctant Eric Molina in Manchester on Saturday night to retain his IBF world heavyweight title, while again disappointing fans who want to see him in a proper fight, has nevertheless thrust him into boxing’s stratosphere.
Doc Holliday, a seasoned boxing face from America who accompanied Molina in the absence of the Texan’s promoter, Don King, predicted Joshua would “earn a billion” from boxing. Well, extrapolating from the £15mn he and Wladimir Klitschko might have earned had the Ukrainian been his opponent on Saturday night (as originally scheduled), their showdown at Wembley Stadium in front of 90,000 fans on April 29 could bring them between £30mn and £40mn apiece.
As the champion’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, confirmed later: “There will be no steps back. Once you have a fight against Wladimir Klitschko and you earn what you earn in that fight, you can’t go back to a voluntary defence against somebody, or even a [sub-standard] mandatory. It will be very difficult to maintain all the belts.”
That is good news for fight fans – who will hope this extravaganza does not collapse the way Klitschko’s rematch with Tyson Fury did, or fail to materialise like Fury’s two big fights with David Haye. They are getting sick of being promised the earth and ending up with Willesden.
There are reasons to be confident Hearn will deliver. For a start he trusts Klitschko’s man, Bernd Bonte – certainly more than some British promoters, managers and fighters, who have found him and the Klitschko brothers difficult negotiators. In the mayhem of the press conference brawl in Munich four years ago that followed Dereck Chisora’s brave losing effort against Vitali, Haye, stirring from the cheap stalls for a shot at the champ, and his then coach and manager, Adam Booth, had a memorable exchange with Bonte.
It led to a wild brawl that swirled around your humble correspondent for several minutes. That’s no way to do business. So Hearn is taking a softer route. He revealed the Klitschko deal was brokered two weeks ago, finalised shortly before Saturday’s show and Joshua signed his contract as soon as he left the ring.
The fight will be for Joshua’s IBF belt, the vacant WBA title (as Klitschko insisted on), the peripheral IBO championship and probably The Ring magazine trophy. Tickets will go on sale before Christmas, although the wolves of the secondary market will be lurking. Hearn said: “We’re looking to go to 90,000, if the Mayor can improve it from 80,000. He said at the Boxing Writers Club dinner how much he wants to bring major fights to London.”
Sadiq Khan’s brother, Sid, incidentally, trains the Olympic super?heavy silver medallist Joe Joyce, a close friend of Joshua’s, so that path could be smoothed. But it is Bonte with whom Hearn has had to do the main business – and, predictably, there is one unticked box. “We haven’t announced the US broadcast partner yet, but obviously we’ve been working with Showtime, and they work with HBO,” Hearn said. “We’d like to continue our relationship with Showtime. It will be something we work on together with Bönte. They’re not difficult to deal with, but obviously they’ve been burnt, so they’re very, very diligent, and that’s why it took so long.
“I feel sorry for Klitschko. He’s wanted to fight since the Fury fight was cancelled, but he hasn’t been able to [because of injury]. He seems hugely excited and he’s been very friendly. But that’s a trap Josh mustn’t fall into. He’s got to have the same ruthless streak he’s had against everyone else. But he’s a ruthless individual, so I don’t see that being a problem. I don’t know how Molina got up.”
A ludicrous suggestion was doing the rounds on social media on Saturday, incidentally, that Joshua would leave Hearn after the Klitschko fight. Seriously?
For a start, their contract has two years to run. Also, Joshua has in Hearn a promoter and negotiator who has a strong grip on the Sky boxing contract and, whatever the fighter’s growing international appeal, the big money is still made at home. Hearn acknowledges Joshua has global sponsorship deals that underline his marketability – especially if he flattens Klitschko – but he has done everything he’s promised him so far.
There is another reason Joshua would be ill-advised to leave. “After Klitschko it is Deontay Wilder,” Hearn said, in reference to the American holder of the WBC belt who also boxes on Showtime. That fight can be done in a phone call.
Meanwhile Joshua and Klitschko, who exchanged pleasantries in the ring after the fight on Saturday night, will meet again in London this week for the ritual launch of their multi-belt spring showdown. What could possibly go wrong?