By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua will fight in December and then again in February or March.
Hearn says he’s open to Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) fighting Tyson Fury, but not in November, as they’re interested.
For that fight to happen, Fury and his promoter will need to be flexible in terms of moving the date to December.
Hearn’s comment about Joshua being the “biggest draw in boxing” suggests he won’t be willing to take the kind of money a challenger would receive fighting a champion.
That’s not going to work with Hearn or Joshua if that’s what Fury and his promoter are going to offer.
Hearn is wary of Fury offering him the fight now, feeling like it’s just a ruse for him to have an excuse to fight someone the fans have never heard of.
“We had plans after the Usyk loss to come back in December and then come back in March, get active and get back into the groove again and then try to fight for the world heavyweight title,” Eddie Hearn told talkSPORT about Anthony Joshua’s next fight. . .
“Our plan is to go on December 10 or 17, probably in the UK with Anthony Joshua against a top 15 opponent, and then go again in February or March. You have the Dillian Whyte fight, and you have Deontay Wilder, which is a really big fight.
“The reality is that AJ is arguably still the biggest draw in boxing.
“To me and the cynic in me in boxing, this smacks of, ‘Oh, we couldn’t agree to the AJ deal, so I’m going to fight this guy you’ve never heard of,” Hearn said of Fury. .
“It’s easy to say, ‘We want to go in November.’ AJ just got a couple of weeks off. ‘What’s wrong with December?’ ‘No no no. It has to be in November, and this is the deal’, and they lower the deal.
“Fury is outstanding at getting the audience to believe absolute nonsense. The big deal for Fury will probably be in February or March; The Middle East will be looking to make the fight undisputed with Usyk.
“We want to win his confidence back and we want to fight him in the UK and around the world,” Hearn said of Joshua.
