Anthony Joshua rejected $50m offer to fight me – Wilder

American boxer and former WBC world heavyweight champion, Deontay Wilder, has hit out at former WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight world champion, Anthony Joshua, for rejecting a bomber offer of $50million to fight him in 2018.

After 13 months of being out of boxing, the 38-year-old will make a return to the ring on December 23 when he takes on former WBO title holder Joseph Parker in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

This event in Riyadh is arguably the biggest fight card put together with Anthony Joshua also on the bill against Otto Wallin.

The 38-year-old has been calling a face-to-face conversation with the Nigerian-born British boxer about their fight.

And there have been numerous times where Wilder and Joshua have been close to making a fight against each other and now the American has pulled back the curtain on these negotiations.

“Anthony Joshua asked for $50million and we provided that for him and he did not take it,” Wilder told The Daily Mail.

Read also: Wilder desperate to fight Anthony Joshua

“And the only way you can disregard that is to make a mockery of it, try to make a joke of it, try to make it seem to the public that it’s not real.”

Wilder further claimed that Anthony Joshua’s management and promoter Matchroom stopped the fight.

“They came up with $50m. That’s why they don’t have Joshua speaking a lot on his own behalf and if he does speak, he always slips up and says things that are not appealing to his people. And they have to play clean up,” Wilder added.

“It’s his management that has held him back from fighting me because, you know, he’s a fighter. It’s been over six years (waiting for the fight to be made). But there comes a point in time we’re you’re like, ‘Forget it’.

“Many times he wanted to fight, he wanted to accept it but his handlers didn’t want it because Joshua is the money-maker for the company. And if he goes down, so does the business.”

But Wilder remains hopeful that he could still get in the ring with Anthony Joshua by 2024.