By Scott Gilfoid: Promoter Eddie Hearn doubts that he’ll be able to sign former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury to his Matchroom Boxing stable, because he’s interested in facing 3 lower level opponents and he’s give him the money he wants for those fights. Moreover, Hearn says he doesn’t want to give those types of fights involving Fury to the boxing public. As such, Hearn doubts that Fury will sign with him.
Fury hasn’t fought in 2 ½ years since his fight with Wladimir in November 2015. Hearn understands why Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) wants to fight weaker opponents, but the money that he wants for his three fights seems to be the issue that is keeping him from putting together a deal. Just how much Fury wants for his three fights is unknown. Fury is popular though, and he probably could bring in a lot of pay-per-view buys in the UK even if he faces weak opposition.
”Fury is a guy we want to fight as well,” Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said to secondsoutcom about a fight between Fury and Joshua. ”The bravado and the reality are two very different things. The reality is he wants to come back and have three fights against some really low level opponents to get himself [back to the top],” Hearn said.
The way Hearn is talking, I wouldn’t be surprised if he expected Fury to face Dillian Whyte or Tony Bellew in his first fight of his comeback. Hearn doesn’t want to give Fury soft fights for some reason.
If Fury signs with another promoter and winds up becoming hugely popular and making massive amounts of money, Hearn could regret not letting him have his three lower level fights. It would be too late by then for Hearn to sign Fury.
If Anthony Joshua had been out of boxing for 2 ½ years for whatever reason, Hearn likely wouldn’t make a big deal if he wants to take on three lower level opposition. Of course, if Joshua asked for a ton of money for those mismatches, then Hearn might balk. It’s hard to say. Hearn might not want to step on Joshua’s toes by rejecting his soft fights.
”I don’t blame him as well. We’ve had talks as well, but to provide that kind of money that he wants, I can’t provide those kinds of fights to people,” Hearn said. ”But let him do it. If he comes with us great; if he doesn’t, we’ll see what happens down the line. If he’s with us, it’s a lot easier to make the Joshua fight,” Hearn said.
Joshua has been fighting a lot of weak opponents since he turned pro. Only seven fights ago, Joshua fought Gary Cornish in September 2015. Before that, Joshua fought journeyman Kevin Johnson, Raphael Zumbano Love and Jason Gavern. For an Olympic gold medalist like Joshua, those are not the type of opponents you would expect for him to have been fighting. Those were fights that were mismatches going in the door. Fury shouldn’t be blamed for taking a few soft fights to get the rust off of his system before he starts fighting better opposition. It would be foolish for Fury to come back and start taking on top tier opposition straightway.