Dillian Whyte Stunned By Offer Tabled For Anthony Joshua April 13th Bout

[Enlightened-One]

I don’t think it’s right for anyone to believe that it’s perfectly fair for any fighter to receive a bigger payday facing Dereck Chisora than the purse he’d receive engaging in a world title bout against Anthony Joshua.

[greg]

I won't believe anyone till I see numbers and hear the other side..

[Nondescript]

..“utterly ridiculous” ..meaning exactly what? is that percentage wise or in absolute numbers? as usual it's just only one side of the story..

Dillian Whyte is frustrated about the fact that his purse for the Chisora rematch is bigger than the payday that Eddie Hearn has offered him to headline a Wembley Stadium filling mega PPV event against Anthony Joshua.

'The Body Snatcher' has already headlined three of his own PPV’s and is a fairly big draw in the UK, so it makes no sense for Matchroom to give Whyte a better payday against Chisora than they’re willing to pay him for the AJ rematch.

I’m not suggesting that AJ is ducking Whyte, but perhaps Eddie Hearn has submitted a lowball offer to 'The Body Snatcher', hoping that he’ll reject it (solely for PR reasons, so he can claim Dillian turned down the opportunity), because a safer route to bide Joshua’s time, whilst waiting for the Fury/Wilder super-fights, would be to face Jarrell Miller instead in the US.

Dillian Whyte is a bit of an unknown quantity, because he’s constantly improving. And even though AJ would be strongly-favoured to beat him, many hardcore boxing aficionados wouldn’t be shocked to see an upset.

I doubt the offer made was Hearns. I'm guessing that it was made by Joshua and his management. I have a feeling that Hearn doesn't have much of say in Joshuas fights. He's more there to stage and promote the fight and get a cut of the percentage.

[oogiebe]

Maybe Whyte's expectations are unrealistic? We're not told anything about the alleged offer. Was there a share of the PPV that would've made it higher than what Whyte's team is leading us to believe? Don't negotiate in public, I say.

[Noxy]

It's strange, the money is there to look after both fighters. Anyway, let them get on with it, we should find out what's happening soon enough.

[Enlightened-One]

..“utterly ridiculous” ..meaning exactly what? is that percentage wise or in absolute numbers? as usual it's just only one side of the story..

Dillian Whyte is frustrated about the fact that his purse for the Chisora rematch is bigger than the payday that Eddie Hearn has offered him to headline a Wembley Stadium filling mega PPV event against Anthony Joshua.

'The Body Snatcher' has already headlined three of his own PPV’s and is a fairly big draw in the UK, so it makes no sense for Matchroom to give Whyte a better payday against Chisora than they’re willing to pay him for the AJ rematch.

I’m not suggesting that AJ is ducking Whyte, but perhaps Eddie Hearn has submitted a lowball offer to 'The Body Snatcher', hoping that he’ll reject it (solely for PR reasons, so he can claim Dillian turned down the opportunity), because a safer route to bide Joshua’s time, whilst waiting for the Fury/Wilder super-fights, would be to face Jarrell Miller instead in the US.

Dillian Whyte is a bit of an unknown quantity, because he’s constantly improving. And even though AJ would be strongly-favoured to beat him, many hardcore boxing aficionados wouldn’t be shocked to see an upset.

I doubt the offer made was Hearns. I'm guessing that it was made by Joshua and his management. I have a feeling that Hearn doesn't have much of say in Joshuas fights. He's more there to stage and promote the fight and get a cut of the percentage.

The offer was made by Eddie Hearn. Managers don’t negotiate fights, promoters do.

Managers only seek the best terms for their clients, they don’t initiate negotiations with fighters.

[candyslim]

Correct me if I'm wrong but Whyte in April is a voluntary defence, yes? If Joshua fights and beats him then this round of WBO and WBA mandatory defences are still waiting for the governing bodies to call them. When they do call them the mandatory challenger won't be Whyte if he's recently been beaten by Joshua so AJ then has an obligation to defend against whoever gets nominated by the WBA, as well as whoever gets nominated by the WBO, as well as the IBF's mandatory Kubrat Pulev, before this year is out.

If he fights someone other than Whyte, it is likely that he can fight Whyte once the WBA and the WBO call their mandatories because Whyte is likely to be nominated by both, thereby discharging two mandatories and removing Whyte from the immediate picture all in just the one fight? Like I say, correct me if my understanding is faulty.

Would it not make sense therefore, to keep Whyte dangling while they try to finalize an April opponent by sending him an offer he won't accept, but won't just simply walk away from thus removing himself as an option for April?

It strikes me as ironic that Joshua has for once the luxury of fighting anyone he pleases this April, yet in reality, because it's Wembley a 100,000 seater stadium, the opponent options are severely limited.

Anybody who believes Hearn would have brought on this situation voluntarily i.e. the intention was not for Joshua to fight Wilder this April, needs to book an appointment with a phrenologist.

[Nondescript]

Dillian Whyte is frustrated about the fact that his purse for the Chisora rematch is bigger than the payday that Eddie Hearn has offered him to headline a Wembley Stadium filling mega PPV event against Anthony Joshua.

'The Body Snatcher' has already headlined three of his own PPV’s and is a fairly big draw in the UK, so it makes no sense for Matchroom to give Whyte a better payday against Chisora than they’re willing to pay him for the AJ rematch.

I’m not suggesting that AJ is ducking Whyte, but perhaps Eddie Hearn has submitted a lowball offer to 'The Body Snatcher', hoping that he’ll reject it (solely for PR reasons, so he can claim Dillian turned down the opportunity), because a safer route to bide Joshua’s time, whilst waiting for the Fury/Wilder super-fights, would be to face Jarrell Miller instead in the US.

Dillian Whyte is a bit of an unknown quantity, because he’s constantly improving. And even though AJ would be strongly-favoured to beat him, many hardcore boxing aficionados wouldn’t be shocked to see an upset.

I doubt the offer made was Hearns. I'm guessing that it was made by Joshua and his management. I have a feeling that Hearn doesn't have much of say in Joshuas fights. He's more there to stage and promote the fight and get a cut of the percentage.

The offer was made by Eddie Hearn. Managers don’t negotiate fights, promoters do.

Managers only seek the best terms for their clients, they don’t initiate negotiations with fighters.

Joshua has his own promotional company aswell though. I think you underestimate how much control he has over his fights. He's by the far the biggest cash cow in hearns stable and thus he has the most power of anyone in that stable. Which is why quite often Joshua chooses who fights on the undercard of his fights or atleast has input. A lot of fighters in the matchroom have basically been built up on the back of Joshuas popularity by being on his undercard.

[Enlightened-One]

I doubt the offer made was Hearns. I'm guessing that it was made by Joshua and his management. I have a feeling that Hearn doesn't have much of say in Joshuas fights. He's more there to stage and promote the fight and get a cut of the percentage.

The offer was made by Eddie Hearn. Managers don’t negotiate fights, promoters do.

Managers only seek the best terms for their clients, they don’t initiate negotiations with fighters.

Joshua has his own promotional company aswell though. I think you underestimate how much control he has over his fights. He's by the far the biggest cash cow in hearns stable and thus he has the most power of anyone in that stable. Which is why quite often Joshua chooses who fights on the undercard of his fights or atleast has input. A lot of fighters in the matchroom have basically been built up on the back of Joshuas popularity by being on his undercard.

I’ll let you read the following interview transcript with Eddie Hearn and you can decide for yourself whether he submits offers to AJ’s opponents or not:

"Anthony Joshua's team place 10-day deadline on search for next opponent after Deontay Wilder talks break down"

• The team of Anthony Joshua have now put a 10-deadline on finding an opponent
• Talks with the people of American star Deontay Wilder recently broke down
• Wilder has always been Joshua’s No 1 preference for an April 13 fight at Wembley
• Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn revealed a series of emails have been ignored

Anthony Joshua's team have put a 10-day deadline on their search for his next opponent, with chances of a Deontay Wilder showdown fading fast after talks broke down again.

Wilder has always been Joshua’s No 1 preference for an April 13 fight at Wembley, despite the likelihood that the WBC champion would instead face Tyson Fury in a rematch or take on his mandatory challenger Dominic Breazeale.

There had been a private hope that the American might yet be swayed, but Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn revealed to Sportsmail on Monday that the past ‘five or six’ emails to Wilder have gone unanswered across a period of three weeks.

A new offer is being drafted for Wilder that will be sent this week, with proposals also going out to Fury and Dillian Whyte, who last week hit out at the ‘utterly ridiculous’ terms put forward by Joshua’s team.

No official approach has yet been made to American Jarrell Miller for a fight at Madison Square Garden but it is a fight under consideration, particularly with the situation so cloudy and the clock ticking.

Whyte has long been considered the most realistic option, but Hearn says there is ‘no clear favourite’ at this stage, with only 13 weeks until his Wembley reservation.

Hearn told Sportsmail: ‘It’s important at this point for everyone to realise there is a big difference between fighters wanting to face Anthony Joshua and fighters simply saying they want to.

‘We have made offers to the major heavyweight contenders and we will be making more offers in the next couple of days with a view to finalising a decision in the next 10 days over Joshua’s next fight.

‘Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte all have the opportunity to get in the ring at Wembley in April and fight for Joshua’s four word titles. If you think you can beat him, our message is simple: come and get it. Who really wants it? This is your chance.’

On Wilder, with whom talks were resurrected after his draw against Fury in December, Hearn said: ‘The difficulty and frustration is that I have now gone five or six unanswered emails from their end across three weeks or so.

'Is Wilder bluffing the public when he says he wants this fight?

‘If he truly wants it, it’s there and he knows it is there because we have told them. If he doesn’t want it, he can have his rematch with Tyson Fury or take on Dominic Breazeale and good luck to him.

'But if he has ambitions to be undisputed champion, as Joshua does, then the opportunity is there now.

[Nondescript]

The offer was made by Eddie Hearn. Managers don’t negotiate fights, promoters do.

Managers only seek the best terms for their clients, they don’t initiate negotiations with fighters.

Joshua has his own promotional company aswell though. I think you underestimate how much control he has over his fights. He's by the far the biggest cash cow in hearns stable and thus he has the most power of anyone in that stable. Which is why quite often Joshua chooses who fights on the undercard of his fights or atleast has input. A lot of fighters in the matchroom have basically been built up on the back of Joshuas popularity by being on his undercard.

I’ll let you read the following interview transcript with Eddie Hearn and you can decide for yourself whether he submits offers to AJ’s opponents or not:

"Anthony Joshua's team place 10-day deadline on search for next opponent after Deontay Wilder talks break down"

• The team of Anthony Joshua have now put a 10-deadline on finding an opponent
• Talks with the people of American star Deontay Wilder recently broke down
• Wilder has always been Joshua’s No 1 preference for an April 13 fight at Wembley
• Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn revealed a series of emails have been ignored

Anthony Joshua's team have put a 10-day deadline on their search for his next opponent, with chances of a Deontay Wilder showdown fading fast after talks broke down again.

Wilder has always been Joshua’s No 1 preference for an April 13 fight at Wembley, despite the likelihood that the WBC champion would instead face Tyson Fury in a rematch or take on his mandatory challenger Dominic Breazeale.

There had been a private hope that the American might yet be swayed, but Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn revealed to Sportsmail on Monday that the past ‘five or six’ emails to Wilder have gone unanswered across a period of three weeks.

A new offer is being drafted for Wilder that will be sent this week, with proposals also going out to Fury and Dillian Whyte, who last week hit out at the ‘utterly ridiculous’ terms put forward by Joshua’s team.

No official approach has yet been made to American Jarrell Miller for a fight at Madison Square Garden but it is a fight under consideration, particularly with the situation so cloudy and the clock ticking.

Whyte has long been considered the most realistic option, but Hearn says there is ‘no clear favourite’ at this stage, with only 13 weeks until his Wembley reservation.

Hearn told Sportsmail: ‘It’s important at this point for everyone to realise there is a big difference between fighters wanting to face Anthony Joshua and fighters simply saying they want to.

‘We have made offers to the major heavyweight contenders and we will be making more offers in the next couple of days with a view to finalising a decision in the next 10 days over Joshua’s next fight.

‘Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte all have the opportunity to get in the ring at Wembley in April and fight for Joshua’s four word titles. If you think you can beat him, our message is simple: come and get it. Who really wants it? This is your chance.’

On Wilder, with whom talks were resurrected after his draw against Fury in December, Hearn said: ‘The difficulty and frustration is that I have now gone five or six unanswered emails from their end across three weeks or so.

'Is Wilder bluffing the public when he says he wants this fight?

‘If he truly wants it, it’s there and he knows it is there because we have told them. If he doesn’t want it, he can have his rematch with Tyson Fury or take on Dominic Breazeale and good luck to him.

'But if he has ambitions to be undisputed champion, as Joshua does, then the opportunity is there now.

That doesn't really say anything. It keeps reiterating the offers "we" have made though. Joshua has a lot more power than Hearn in negotiations due to his drawing power. The same can be said for Canelo and Golden boy.

Why do you think the offer to Whyte was so low initially? Do you really think Hearn would by himself would make such a low offer knowing how much Whyte earned in fighting Chisora in the rematch? It's super low because thats all Joshua wants to offer initially.

[Enlightened-One]

Joshua has his own promotional company aswell though. I think you underestimate how much control he has over his fights. He's by the far the biggest cash cow in hearns stable and thus he has the most power of anyone in that stable. Which is why quite often Joshua chooses who fights on the undercard of his fights or atleast has input. A lot of fighters in the matchroom have basically been built up on the back of Joshuas popularity by being on his undercard.

I’ll let you read the following interview transcript with Eddie Hearn and you can decide for yourself whether he submits offers to AJ’s opponents or not:

"Anthony Joshua's team place 10-day deadline on search for next opponent after Deontay Wilder talks break down"

• The team of Anthony Joshua have now put a 10-deadline on finding an opponent
• Talks with the people of American star Deontay Wilder recently broke down
• Wilder has always been Joshua’s No 1 preference for an April 13 fight at Wembley
• Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn revealed a series of emails have been ignored

Anthony Joshua's team have put a 10-day deadline on their search for his next opponent, with chances of a Deontay Wilder showdown fading fast after talks broke down again.

Wilder has always been Joshua’s No 1 preference for an April 13 fight at Wembley, despite the likelihood that the WBC champion would instead face Tyson Fury in a rematch or take on his mandatory challenger Dominic Breazeale.

There had been a private hope that the American might yet be swayed, but Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn revealed to Sportsmail on Monday that the past ‘five or six’ emails to Wilder have gone unanswered across a period of three weeks.

A new offer is being drafted for Wilder that will be sent this week, with proposals also going out to Fury and Dillian Whyte, who last week hit out at the ‘utterly ridiculous’ terms put forward by Joshua’s team.

No official approach has yet been made to American Jarrell Miller for a fight at Madison Square Garden but it is a fight under consideration, particularly with the situation so cloudy and the clock ticking.

Whyte has long been considered the most realistic option, but Hearn says there is ‘no clear favourite’ at this stage, with only 13 weeks until his Wembley reservation.

Hearn told Sportsmail: ‘It’s important at this point for everyone to realise there is a big difference between fighters wanting to face Anthony Joshua and fighters simply saying they want to.

‘We have made offers to the major heavyweight contenders and we will be making more offers in the next couple of days with a view to finalising a decision in the next 10 days over Joshua’s next fight.

‘Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte all have the opportunity to get in the ring at Wembley in April and fight for Joshua’s four word titles. If you think you can beat him, our message is simple: come and get it. Who really wants it? This is your chance.’

On Wilder, with whom talks were resurrected after his draw against Fury in December, Hearn said: ‘The difficulty and frustration is that I have now gone five or six unanswered emails from their end across three weeks or so.

'Is Wilder bluffing the public when he says he wants this fight?

‘If he truly wants it, it’s there and he knows it is there because we have told them. If he doesn’t want it, he can have his rematch with Tyson Fury or take on Dominic Breazeale and good luck to him.

'But if he has ambitions to be undisputed champion, as Joshua does, then the opportunity is there now.

That doesn't really say anything. It keeps reiterating the offers "we" have made though. Joshua has a lot more power than Hearn in negotiations due to his drawing power. The same can be said for Canelo and Golden boy.

Why do you think the offer to Whyte was so low initially? Do you really think Hearn would by himself would make such a low offer knowing how much Whyte earned in fighting Chisora in the rematch? It's super low because thats all Joshua wants to offer initially.

My gut feeling is that Hearn and AJ want to engage in a bout on US soil against Jarrell Miller, so they submitted a lowball offer to Dillian Whyte as an excuse not to make that fight. So for PR purposes, Eddie Hearn can tell the media that he "tried" making bouts against bigger name foes, but they either "ducked" the Brit or were "far too greedy".

I don't feel that Joshua is actually "scared" of Whyte though, but he's already beaten Dillian and Hearn may find it hard to fill all the seats at Wembley Stadium for based on AJ against an opponent that mainstream causuals believe he's already beaten comprehensively. This seems more of a strategic manouvre.

I could be wrong though.

[conan_the_cribber]

And once again, the tiresome negotiations seem to get in the way of a good fight. You can assume that Hearns is aware what Whyte got for his Chisora fight. So offering less seems like a right royal "f*ck you" to Whyte. Yet Hearns has the problem of filling Wembly. He has some options, a rematch with Potvekin, fighting one of the American contendors, Breazdale, Miller, possibly even Jennings. He could fight some undefeated fighter with a lower resumé like Kownacki or Tom Schwarz. I think most of Aj's fan will come out for any of these.

[greg]

1. still no numbers available at this point, is it really that low? Should we just take Whyte's word for it?
2. assuming it Is in fact low? could that be just an initial offer?
3. I still don't think AJ had or has any plans to go to New York to fight Miller...

I have to agree with Eddie Hearn on ONE thing: they should stop bitching, come forward and get those belts...those 4 belts should be a huge motivation, an investment into the future imo..

[Enlightened-One]

1. still no numbers available at this point, is it really that low? Should we just take Whyte's word for it?

Whyte hasn’t disclosed any numbers. He simply claimed the payday he was offered was less than what he received for the Chisora bout. This hasn’t been refuted yet from Hearn or AJ. Could Dillian by lying, perhaps, but it’s a case of wait and see.

2. assuming it Is in fact low? could that be just an initial offer?

This is the most likely scenario. It’s normal for the buyer to start the initial bidding low with any negotiations and then work their way upwards to finding middle-ground with the seller. However, it would be really strange if Hearn really had initially offered a smaller purse to Whyte than the one he received for the Chisora bout. I’d be annoyed by Matchroom’s approach if I was wearing the Body Snatcher’s shoes.

3. I still don't think AJ had or has any plans to go to New York to fight Miller...

This is correct also. When AJ was in New York recently, he said he wanted to build a fan base in the US during 2019 before engaging in a bout on American soil sometime during 2020.

However, if Matchroom can’t find a suitable opponent to fill the 90,000 seats in Wembley, then Hearn may have to abandon those plans and consider taking the Miller bout on US soil. I doubt that Anthony Joshua would want to compete in the 02 Arena again, as it’ll be seen as a step backward for him.

It’s going to be really difficult selling a bout between AJ and Whyte to ignorant mainstream casuals, as they’ll only be aware that Joshua has already comprehensively defeated Dillian, but they won’t understand the Body Snatcher’s significant career progress he’s made since that loss, which is a shame.

A fight between two PPV stars like AJ and Whyte would be huge, but perhaps not big enough to generate sufficient interest to fill a 90,000 seater stadium. And that causes a problem for Eddie Hearn.

I have to agree with Eddie Hearn on ONE thing: they should stop bitching, come forward and get those belts...those 4 belts should be a huge motivation, an investment into the future imo..

If those four belts are ever unified, the champion who eventually owns them will likely only possess them temporarily, as they won’t allow the sports’ governing bodies to dictate the fights that can be made – one or two of them will either be vacated or stripped shortly after their acquisition.

We saw this already with Crawford, we’ll see it soon with Usyk and I’m sure it’ll happen again with the last man standing out of Joshua, Wilder and Fury.

Wasn't Tyson Fury unreasonably stripped of his IBF title less than two weeks after winning it? It’s inevitable that the same sort of political “title unification-related” problems will happen again in the near future.

Coincidentally, Tyson Fury wants to compete in a homecoming fight in April prior to engaging in a rematch against Deontay Wilder. Is the timing a mere coincidence, considering AJ’s PPV bout being staged on the 13th April, with both fighters appearing on rival British networks? If Fury and Joshua aren’t fighting each other, then their events will cannibalise each other’s PPV buys. Eddie Hearn will have to consider the commercial impact that this would have on AJ’s April 13th PPV event.

BT Sports and Sky Box Office have gone head-to-head quite recently and it seems it may happen again soon.

[Enlightened-One]

Eddie Hearn has just issued a warning of sorts (via Sky Sports) to Dillian Whyte, who is a promotional free agent, by claiming that if the 'The Bodysnatcher' rejects the current opportunity to face Anthony Joshua now, he may not receive another chance to face AJ for a very long time, as the expectation is for Oleksandr Usyk to automatically become the WBO’s mandatory challenger when the Ukraine eventually makes the jump to heavyweight.

The Matchroom boss’ argument is that Whyte should willingly compromise his current payday demands to capitalise on an opportunity to fight for a chance to capture the world heavyweight championship, with a view to becoming the A-side during negotiations for the rematch, if he somehow manages to dethrone Joshua.

The problem with what Eddie Hearn is saying though, relates to the fact that Whyte claims he’s being offered a smaller payday facing Anthony Joshua in a world title fight, than the purse he received for defeating Dereck Chisora in the rematch. As far as I'm concered, this claim hasn't been refuted.

The Matchroom boss is basically asking Dillian Whyte to provide his services on the cheap, for the opportunity to seek sporting glory. This isn’t an appropriate way to negotiate bouts.

[oogiebe]

Eddie Hearn has just issued a warning of sorts (via Sky Sports) to Dillian Whyte, who is a promotional free agent, by claiming that if the 'The Bodysnatcher' rejects the current opportunity to face Anthony Joshua now, he may not receive another chance to face AJ for a very long time, as the expectation is for Oleksandr Usyk to automatically become the WBO’s mandatory challenger when the Ukraine eventually makes the jump to heavyweight.

The Matchroom boss’ argument is that Whyte should willingly compromise his current payday demands to capitalise on an opportunity to fight for a chance to capture the world heavyweight championship, with a view to becoming the A-side during negotiations for the rematch, if he somehow manages to dethrone Joshua.

The problem with what Eddie Hearn is saying though, relates to the fact that Whyte claims he’s being offered a smaller payday facing Anthony Joshua in a world title fight, than the purse he received for defeating Dereck Chisora in the rematch. As far as I'm concered, this claim hasn't been refuted.

The Matchroom boss is basically asking Dillian Whyte to provide his services on the cheap, for the opportunity to seek sporting glory. This isn’t an appropriate way to negotiate bouts.

Hey EO - More banter, don't you think?

[Enlightened-One]

Eddie Hearn has just issued a warning of sorts (via Sky Sports) to Dillian Whyte, who is a promotional free agent, by claiming that if the 'The Bodysnatcher' rejects the current opportunity to face Anthony Joshua now, he may not receive another chance to face AJ for a very long time, as the expectation is for Oleksandr Usyk to automatically become the WBO’s mandatory challenger when the Ukraine eventually makes the jump to heavyweight.

The Matchroom boss’ argument is that Whyte should willingly compromise his current payday demands to capitalise on an opportunity to fight for a chance to capture the world heavyweight championship, with a view to becoming the A-side during negotiations for the rematch, if he somehow manages to dethrone Joshua.

The problem with what Eddie Hearn is saying though, relates to the fact that Whyte claims he’s being offered a smaller payday facing Anthony Joshua in a world title fight, than the purse he received for defeating Dereck Chisora in the rematch. As far as I'm concered, this claim hasn't been refuted.

The Matchroom boss is basically asking Dillian Whyte to provide his services on the cheap, for the opportunity to seek sporting glory. This isn’t an appropriate way to negotiate bouts.

Hey EO - More banter, don't you think?

I feel that Eddie Hearn has submitted a lowball offer to 'The Body Snatcher', hoping that he’ll reject it (solely for PR reasons, so he can claim Dillian turned down the opportunity), because a safer route to bide Joshua’s time, whilst waiting for a super-fight against the likes of Fury or Wilder to materialise, would be to face Jarrell Miller instead in the US.

For some strange reason, I don’t think a rematch between Joshua and Whyte would generate enough interest to fill a 90,000 seater Wembley Stadium, since Dillian has already been beaten by AJ. It might be more profitable for Matchroom if AJ competed in a smaller (cheaper) venue on US soil instead. This move kills two birds with one stone anyway, since the Brit really needs to gain exposure to the American market.