Deontay Wilder has reportedly been offered a flat fee to fight Anthony Joshua with the American set to respond in the next 48 hours.

Wilder currently holds the WBC version of the world heavyweight title, the only piece missing to Joshua’s quest for complete unification as the Brit is the current WBA, IBF and IBO champion with a bout for all the straps being targeted.

Both boxers are coming off the back of wins in March as firstly Wilder defended his WBC title with a tenth round stoppage of Cuban Luis Ortiz, while Joshua defended his WBA and IBF titles against Joseph Parker where he would also collect the Kiwi’s WBO strap.

The contest would potentially decide the first ever undisputed world champion to hold all four of the major boxing organisations titles, with both Joshua and Wilder personally claiming they want the fight, but also accusing one another of not wanting the showdown.

However, Gareth A Davies, boxing correspondent for the Telegraph has reported Joshua and his team have offered Wilder a fee of £8.8 million to challenge the Brit.

Despite these rumours, Wilders' management team have played down these reports, with co-manager Shelly Finkel claiming this was “the first offer”, which was a “flat fee with no place, date or venue, nor even whether it was the next fight”.

Finkel told The Telegraph: “It was a take-it-or-leave-it offer. We will respond ­appropriately in the next day or so with our counter offer. If Joshua is serious, we will take the fight.

“Deontay wants this fight. He doesn’t want anyone else.”

Reports originally suggested Wilders' team were prepared to accept a split between the two of 60/40 in Joshua’s favour, with the fight taking place in the UK.

A return leg was also rumoured to be part of the deal, which would take place in the US with a 50/50 purse shared between both fighters.

Davies suggested details of the contract sent to Wilder do not make it clear where the fight will be held, when it will take place, or even if it is to be Joshua’s next fight.

However, it remains clear Eddie Hearn and Joshua have at least taken a step to set the fight up.

There is uncertainty whether this offer will be taken seriously by Wilder's team.

Despite Wilder’s career highest earning only being $2.1m (£1.5m), which he collected against Ortiz in his last world title defence, journalist Adam Abramowitz has predicted this showdown could gross up to $100m (£71m).

He tweeted: “Sources told me today that Eddie Hearn offered Wilder's side a $12.5M take it-or leave it offer for an Anothony Joshua fight. For a fight with potential revenues of $80-$100M in revenues, that offer is far below 20% of potential revenues.”

The sum offered to Wilder would fall well below the 40 percent the American desires and ‘Bronze Bomber’ is likely to refute the flat fee.