Hearn optimistic Joshua-Klitschko fight gets made

By Boxing News - 10/10/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn truly believes the fight between him and Wladimir Klitschko can get made for November 26. Hearn is working on trying to finalize the last remaining small points so that he can announce the fight this week. Hearn says that if the fight isn’t done by the end of this week, then there might be a problem in getting it done. If that happens, Hearn will need to find someone in a real hurry to fight Joshua by November 26. I can imagine Dereck Chisora, David Price or Dillian Whyte being trotted out to fight Joshua in a showcase fight.

Any of those three guys would be totally over-matched against Joshua. None of those guys have done anything to rate a world title shot, and yet we’d still likely see one of them signed up to fight Joshua if Hearn can’t get the Klitschko fight signed for that date.

Hearn has already put the Manchester Arena on hold for November 26, so he’s going to need to find a replacement opponent quickly if he can’t make the deal with Klitschko by the end of the week. They also need to make sure that the World Boxing Association title is on the line for the fight.

That will require that the World Boxing Association steps in and strips champion Tyson Fury of the belt, which they have yet to do. Fury is a popular champion, so it’s not all that surprising that the WBA hasn’t stripped him of his strap. If he wasn’t popular, then you can imagine that his title would have been taken from him a long time ago.

“Now it’s a case of going through the finer points of the agreement and I feel like most of the deal is done but there are still a lot of obstacles that can interrupt our progress,” said Hearn to skysports.com about the Joshua vs. Klitschko fight. They are not really obstacles I feel should stop the fight from happening.”

It’s too bad new Matchroom Sport fighter Luis Ortiz is already scheduled for a fight on November 12 against Malik Scott. Ortiz, 6’4”, would be a great replacement for Wladimir. Hearn could stick Ortiz in there against Joshua, and it would sell a lot of pay-per-view buys on Sky Box Office if Hearn were willing to match Joshua against the unbeaten Cuban. I don’t think Hearn wants to do that. He’s good with matching Joshua against 40-year-old Klitschko, who looks to be a near shadow now of the fighter he once was. Putting Joshua in with him is now big deal, because it’s a winnable fight for Joshua. But putting him in with the still very dangerous Ortiz is a different thing altogether.

There was a rumor that Joshua could be fighting former two division world champion David Haye on November 26 if the Klitschko fight didn’t get made. Hearn says that’s not true. He’s not ready to make the fight with Haye yet. Just when he’ll be ready is the big question. Will Hearn wait the 35-year-old Haye out until he’s over-the-hill before he makes the fight, or will he make it soon while Haye is still relatively in his prime?

“He’s not fighting AJ but there are rumors he might go the same night,” said Hearn about a potential fight between Haye and Joshua on the night. “I think that’s a fight that’s not too far away either but the Klitschko fight is the one that really whets the appetite.”

Hearn clearly believes that Joshua can beat Wladimir. It would be real bad news for Hearn if Wladimir is able to KO Joshua with one of his still lethal left hooks to the head. You can bet that Joshua will force Wladimir to fight. Wladimir won’t last long in this fight if all he does is move around the ring with his right hand cocked as if he’s about to throw it like he did against Tyson Fury all night long last November. Joshua is a lot easier to hit than Fury was, so I suspect that Wladimir’s accuracy will improve, and he’ll have less qualms about letting his hands go in this fight. If he doesn’t throw punches, then he’ll lose the fight.

“If we can get a couple of belts on the line, that would be fantastic,” said Hearn about wanting the WBA up for grabs along with Joshua’s IBF belt. “I just feel like it is the right fight for Anthony Joshua right now. He is committed, his training team is committed, I am committed, and I think Bernd [Boente, Klitschko’s manager] and Wladimir are as well.”

Joshua was originally looking to fight against the likes of Joseph Parker on November 26. That all changed after Fury pulled out of his rematch against Wladimir. Now with Fury testing positive for cocaine and dealing with mental health issues, there’s a chance that his WBA and WBO heavyweight titles will be available. Wladimir absolutely wants to fight for one of the belts.

You can argue that Wladimir would be better off going after the WBO title against Parker rather than facing Joshua. I guess it’s a pride thing with Wladimir. Still, the Joshua vs. Klitschko fight isn’t made yet, so there’s a chance that Wladimir could go in another direction towards Parker. If Wladimir wanted to fight WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, he would need to wait in line, because Wilder will need to fight the winner of the Alexander Povetkin vs. Bermane Stiverne fight next when he comes back from his injured hand and biceps injury.

Wladimir looked pretty shot in his last fight against Fury last November, and in his fight before that against Bryant Jennings. Perhaps it’s possible that those were bad style match-ups for Wladimir. I think it’s more of a case of Wladimir being old and having lost something from his game due to his advanced age.

If Wladimir can find the fountain of youth to defeat Joshua, it would be huge news for the boxing world, because there are a lot of people who believe that the British heavyweight is going to rule for a long time. If an aging guy like Wladimir can destroy Joshua, then obviously he was never that good to begin with. All I know is Joshua’s gold medal win in the 2012 Olympics was controversial, and that he hasn’t faced anyone since turning pro. I’m just saying.