According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, a unification bout between heavyweight champion’s Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker is close to being finalized.
“The fight has never been closer. We’re a lot closer now to a deal because we’ve had a major breakthrough, which is that the two camps have formally agreed on the split,” Parker’s co-promoter David Higgins told ESPN in a phone interview from his home country of New Zealand. “The Joshua side made a small concession, and the Parker side has made a small concession.”
“It’s between 30 and 35-ish percent for the Parker side,” Higgins said. “I’ll leave it at that for now, but it’s somewhere close to the middle of that. Maybe after Eddie and I talk about it, we will make the figure public.”
“My gut feeling is there will be a deal. We’re only haggling over officials,” he said. “We’ll have to have a discussion with the British Boxing Board of Control [which regulates the sport in the U.K.]. I’m also happy to have the sanctioning bodies nominate a pool of officials. But even with that, we’re very close to a deal.”
“I think that’s fair,” Higgins said of the rematch clause. “Should Parker win, there’d be a rematch, and I think that’s fair because, commercially, Joshua is the A-side of the fight.”
“Eddie and I get on well,” Higgins said. “I found him to be smart, and we have a banter and humor between us. He doesn’t have an ego problem. I like working with people like Eddie Hearn. Both sides have given concessions. We respect them.”
“The goal is to get it done as soon as possible,” Higgins said.
