Eddie Hearn believes Deontay Wilder won’t be able to compete for a world title until 2022 should the heavyweight return to boxing.

Wilder has been mostly in silence since losing his heavyweight belt to Tyson Fury earlier this year, and it recently came to light that the rematch clause in their contract expired, meaning Fury is legally able to look for alternate opponents.

According to Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn, it’s a sign of poor management, and with a pair of fights targeted for Joshua vs. Fury next year, means Wilder won’t see heavyweight gold for some time.

“For Shelly Finkel and Bob Arum and those guys to sit there and say, ‘The contract has expired.’ What kind of contract was this?” Hearn said, speaking to Sky Sports. “We’re coming off of a global pandemic. The Force majeure would cover them in that respect. Surely if they weren’t out of contract, Shelly Finkel would be taking legal action.

“It’s all really weird. All I know is Wilder has missed a boat. He’s not going to get a shot at a world title until 2022 and onwards because we’re going to have our two fights next year if we beat Kubrat Pulev.

“The belts tied up for two years. I don’t know. It’s very, very strange. But maybe he’s done. You wouldn’t hold it against him. Good luck to him. As long as he’s happy in his life, but I don’t understand the situation with Shelly and the contract and how they’ve not been across this.”