By Scott Gilfoid: IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Tyron Fury let IBF heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua (16-0, 16 KOs) have it today for him and his promoter Eddie Hearn selecting an easy mark for Joshua’s first title defense against fringe contender Dominic Breazeale (17-0, 15 KOs) on June 25 at the O2 Arena in London, UK.
Fury sees the 6’7” Breazeale as little more than a bum, and he’s not impressed with the choice. Fury did not go into detail about what specifically he does not like about the 30-year-old American Breazeale, but it’s likely that Fury saw how bad Breazeale looked in his fights against Fred Kassi and Amir Mansour recently.
Those were hard fights for Breazeale, and he’s fortunate that he won both. Kassi fought well enough to deserve a decision over Breazeale last September, and Mansour had him down on the canvas in the 3rd. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has picked a soft guy for Joshua and definitely not as tough as Fury’s first title defense, which will be against Wladimir Klitschko on July 9 at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK. Joshua is being given a soft job in comparison to Fury.
Some boxing fans argue that Joshua took on the weakest of the heavyweight world champions in Charles Martin earlier this month on April 9. Instead of Joshua waiting in line to take on the talented WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder or face the likes of Fury or Luis “The Real King Kong” Ortiz, Joshua faced the new kid on the block in Martin. To be sure, it was good match-making by Hearn, but it sure looks like Hearn used skillful match-making in going for the soft target in Martin rather than risking Joshua’s hide against Deontay, Ortiz or Fury.
“Let’s not give @Anthony Joshua a hard time over his opponent, just remember he has only had 16 fights, and still learning,” Fury initially said on his Twitter on Monay. “BTW I was only [expletive] joking with you guys, AJ [Joshua] is fighting a total bum city. Eddie Hearn at it again joke, imagine if I was gonna fight Brazile (Breazeale) lol,” said Fury.
Hearn would likely argue that he needed to choose an American heavyweight because Joshua is on the verge of signing a contract with HBO or Showtime to have his fights televised in the U.S. Picking an American boxer like Breazeale would be a move that might please one of those two cable giants. However, casual boxing fans in the States likely have no clue who Breazeale is. He’s not a household name, and I doubt that Joshua will bring in big ratings in the U.S for a fight against Breazeale.
The other two options that Joshua didn’t select for his June 25 fight was Bermane Stiverne and Eric Molina. They both fight in the States, but don’t possess the unbeaten record that Breazeale possesses.
Joshua will get a unification fight against Fury later this year if the two of them keep winning. It’ll be a big fight in the UK, but it won’t wow the American fans though. It’s going to take more than Fury vs. Joshua or Joshua vs. Breazeale to impress the American fans. If you throw a talent like Deontay’s name in the mix, then you’ve got a big fight with great ratings in the U.S.