Boxing fans will get to see Anthony Joshua fight Deontay Wilder next year, according to Eddie Hearn.Joshua’s promoter confirmed the heavyweight bout will take place in 2018, although a dispute over the split has resulted in difficult negotiations."It's going to happen in 2018, absolutely no question,” Hearn said this week. “You can't get away with not making fights any more because when you do you wake up to a million tweets.""Unfortunately, Anthony has to overpay opponents. If we offered Deontay the correct purse for this fight it would never happen because he would think it was disrespectful."So we have to overpay him to make it happen. And we have to give him respect because he's a great fighter, a great champion, really exciting, a great self promoter.”Wilder is seeking a 50/50 split with Joshua, despite the Brit boasting a much bigger profile than the WBC champion.So don’t be surprised if it takes a while for the fight to be announced - negotiations between Hearn and Wilder’s manager, Shelly Finkel, won’t be swift.

Oscar De La Hoya made a ridiculous claim

Wilder has been criticised for seeking such a large share of the pot but one man who believes he could put the American in such a position is boxer turned promoter, Oscar De La Hoya.

According to De La Hoya, Joshua would be begging Wilder to meet him in the ring, not the other way around, if he represented the 39-0 fighter.

The 44-year-old tweeted: “I promoted @BronzeBomber first 33 fights and made him a champion, if I was his promoter he would be a star and @anthonyfjoshua would be begging for the fight and not the other way around. #heavyweights #superfight.”

Considering Wilder is far from a household name in the United States - which Hearn proved when he asked Americans in New York whether they had heard of the Bronze Bomber - boasting about promoting Wilder’s first 33 fights doesn’t seem to be the smartest move.

And boxing fans let De La Hoya know how they felt with their responses to his tweet.

Joshua has proven his status in the United Kingdom, performing in front of 90,000 fans at Wembley Stadium and over 70,000 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.

Wilder could have the best promoter around and he still wouldn’t be in a position to make demands.