Shelly Finkel, manager of former world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, has admitted that he ignored offers from Eddie Hearn.
Interview with talkSportFinkel talks about how important it is to Wilder to keep focusing on his fight with Robert Heleniusinstead of getting caught up in other possible wars.
“There were a few times when Eddie Hearn said I was avoiding him. That’s partly true, it’s completely true. “
“We have a war with Robert Helenius coming up. Eddie emailed me, ‘Can we talk? I have a big number [offer] for Deontay. ‘”
“Right now we have a war with Helenius, that’s all we need to focus on. Because if something goes wrong there, nothing else will. And if it goes in the right direction, all will be well.
“And I feel like if I call Eddie, the next thing you’ll call me, ‘Oh, have you and Eddie talked yet?’
“So I said to Deontay and Al Haymon, ‘What do you think?’ And they said, “Stop this war.”
Finkel also talked about his feelings for Eddie Hearn, staying away from rumors that he has any bad feelings for the British promoter.
He reassured match fans that no issues in their relationship could prevent a potential fight between Wilder and Joshua from happening in the future.
“Barry Hearn and I, we go back 30/40 years and it’s always been so close.”
“And what Eddie, look, he hasn’t been here as long as he thought he’d be, but he’s done some really cool and good things – so I give him credit for that.
“And when the time comes to make a deal, it either gets done, or doesn’t.
“It was done with Wladimir Klitschko and now he [Anthony Joshua] seems to be on his way to fighting Tyson Fury. I wish him well.”
Any conversation between Finkel and Hearn, intimate or otherwise, will have to wait. Not only because of Wilder’s war with Helenius, but also because of the obvious progress in Joshua vs Tyson Fury fight.
Although there is no official announcement, but on December 3rd seemingly all but confirmed for a match in Cardiff in what will be one of the biggest bouts in British boxing history.
