Hearn wants vacant Ring title on line for Joshua vs. Parker

By Boxing News - 02/01/2018 - Comments

Image: Hearn wants vacant Ring title on line for Joshua vs. Parker

By Allan Fox: Eddie Hearn says he wants the vacant Ring Magazine heavyweight title to be on the line for the Anthony Joshua vs. Joseph Parker fight on March 31. Hearn said he spoke with Doug Fisher, one of the committee members with Ring Magazine, to see about the possibility of having the Joshua-Parker fight be for the Ring title.

Hearn says they want Deontay Wilder vs. Joshua to be the fight for that vacant Ring heavyweight title. However, Hearn is still hoping the Ring committee will choose to let the title be up for grabs for Joshua-Parker next month in their fight at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.

It’s understandable why Ring Magazine would prefer the Joshua vs. Wilder fight to be the one with the Ring heavyweight title on the line. It’s a much bigger fight than Joshua-Parker. That’s not a knock out Parker, because he’s a good fighter. It’s more of a case of Wilder having the size, speed, power, confidence and experience to give Joshua harder fight.

“You have to have a plan. You got to get yourself in order,” Hearn said to Fighthype talking about Fury. “That happened with the IBF title, but I think the clock did run out, because I think he has some legal issues with some promoters. The ruling [from Ring Magazine] was he had to fight someone in the top 5 or close to it, which was never going to happen anyway. I spoke to Doug Fisher at Ring, and I think the committee wants Joshua and Wilder to fight for that title. I said to those guys let’s see how Wilder gets on March 3rd, and we would like to apply for that belt for Parker vs. Joshua. It’s #1 vs. #3. Its 2 world champions, but they really want Joshua vs. Wilder for the Ring belts, so we’ll see what happens,” Hearn said.

Hear shouldn’t be in such a rush to have Joshua fight for the Ring heavyweight title. Having that belt on the line isn’t going to help sell more pay-per-view buys to the British boxing public on Sky Box Office. The fans are going to purchase the Joshua-Parker fight on Sky Box Office based on the quality of the fight. Adding the Ring Magazine title won’t help make it bigger. Joshua will still get a chance to fight for the Ring title if he defeats Parker in their fight next month. Joshua will need to go through Wilder to win the belt.

Hearn further revealed that he attempted to sign Tyson Fury to his Matchroom Sport stable, but he instead went in another direction in signing with Frank Warren.

“My conversations with him [Tyson Fury] were I offered him a huge amount of money for 2 fights, and then the Anthony Joshua fight,” Hearn said. “Judging by the money I offered him, Frank Warren is very brave to offer him all that money on that platform, but if he’s going to deliver that money and I and suspect it’s up front as well, then good luck to him,” Hearn said.