By Scott Gilfoid: Eddie Hearn is guaranteeing that Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury will be fighting each other, win or lose, in the future. Hearn says it doesn’t matter if one or both of them lose their fights, the two of them will still wind up fighting, because there’s so much interest from British fans.
Joshua said on Tuesday that he wants to fight Fury (29-0-1, 20 KOs) soon, and immediately Tyson responded back in the affirmative. He wants that fight as well.
Hearn isn’t sure if Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) will ever fight WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. Part of the problem with that fight is Hearn still has misgivings about the purse split. He brings up that Wilder didn’t deserve a 50-50 split in a fight with Joshua in the past when he was making around $3 million per fight, but now he’s doing better.
If Hearn insists on Joshua getting the bigger slice of the pie, a fight between him and Wilder will never take place while it matters with the two holding world titles.
Hearn: Fury and Joshua WILL fight each otherÂ
“When I saw that, I thought, ‘How are you going to do that?'” said Hearn to IFL TV in responding to Joshua saying that he’ll help Fury with sparring. “I wouldn’t be surprised, now that he’s said it, that he’ll go out there and do some rounds. It’s a weird one, because the two will definitely fight,” said Hearn about Joshua and Fury facing each other in the future.
“Win or lose, if Fury wins against Wilder or loses against Wilder, I promise you AJ and Fury will fight at some point in the future, unquestionably. I can’t say the same thing about Wilder, because I just don’t know. I know Fury will fight AJ, and I know AJ REALLy wants to fight Fury, because they both know how big that fight is for Britain,” said Hearn.
Eddie is probably correct about Joshua and Fury fighting each other at some point, but it sure as heck won’t be in 2020. Wilder and Fury are already scheduled for two fights next year, and Joshua has his mandatory defenses he needs to deal with. There’s no way that Joshua and Fury can fight each other until 2021, and even then, it’s questionable.
Fury could lose twice in 2020 to Wilder
Will Hearn want to match Joshua against the 31-year-old Fury if he’s coming off of consecutive knockout losses to Deontay? Probably not. I mean, come on, would the British boxing public want to see Joshua face Fury under those circumstances? it would look too much like a sympathy move on Joshua’s part, and that won’t sell with the UK fans. For a Joshua-Fury fight to take place, they’ll both need to be coming off of victories, preferably over elite level competition.
Fury has the much harder road than AJ does in taking on Wilder x 2 in 2020. Joshua has an old timer in front of him in 38-year-old Kubrat Pulev, and the light hitting former unified cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in 2020. There’s very little chance that Joshua loses to either of those guys.
Eddie Hearn pulling for Fury to beat WilderÂ
“I hope Fury wins [against Wilder], because I like Tyson and he’s British,” said Hearn in giving his rationale for wanting Fury to defeat Deontay. So, if it’s a Brit against a Yank, sorry, mate. I like Tyson. I’ve always liked Tyson Fury. He’s f—– drives me mental, but probably vice versa, but you can’t not respect the man. I met him in Monte Carlo and we were talking about doing a deal.
“He was in a terrible, terrible state. I was looking at him thinking, ‘You will never ever fight again,’ and he proved me wrong. He proved a lot of people wrong. It’s incredible. He’s a very good fighter I just think AJ beats him, and that’s my personal opinion. So let’s see it. But I know for a fact that he will fight, but he won’t back down from a fight,” said Hearn.
Eddie saying that he wants Fury to beat Deontay can be interpreted as a sign that he wants the threat to Joshua being removed. I mean, look at it this way. If Fury beats Wilder, then Hearn won’t have to worry anymore about the gravy train ending. Joshua has been bringing in a lot of gravy with his fights against a lot of old timers, and mediocre fighters.
Wilder poses a big threat to Joshua
If Hearn puts Joshua in with Wilder, that all could end for him. If Wilder destroys Joshua the way many in the boxing world believe, it could send AJ’s career downward.
It’s nice that Hearn is hoping that Fury gets Wilder out of the way for Joshua, but that’s meaningless. Hearn is just another one of the fanatics that are rooting for Fury, but he’s not going to be in the ring taking the right hands for him against Wilder. Hearn can wish all he wants for Fury to beat Wilder, but that’s not going to help him withstand the Bronze Bomber’s power any better, is it?
It looks to some like Hearn wants Fury to do Joshua’s dirty work, doesn’t it? Instead of Joshua getting in the trenches with Wilder, Hearn wants Fury to be the one that’s forced to suffer the slings and arrows. That’s a bad look. Hearn has been banging on 24/7 about how great Joshua is, and now he’s at the state where he wants Fury to beat his main threat.
