By Charles Brun: Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn is still hopeful that he’ll be able to stage his next fight against Kubrat Pulev in the U.K. despite the many obstacles getting in the way of that happening.
The limits on crowd size and the undercard fights make it a formidable task for Hearn and his Matchroom promotional company. Hearn’s leading priority is to stage the fight in the U.K., and if not there, he’d like to bring it to the Middle East.
The problem is that Pulev isn’t a big name, and it’s not a big enough fight to attract the same amount of interest as Joshua’s last fight against Andy Ruiz Jr., which took place in Saudi Arabia last December.
Pulev’s manager Ivaylo Gotzev wants to stage the Joshua fight in Pula, Croatia. It’s challenging to imagine Hearn and Joshua giving the green light to stage the fight with Pulev in Croatia, even if it’s the best offer that comes in. It might work for Team Pulev to stage the fight in Croatia, but Hearn is likely to insist on taking the fight in the U.K.
“We’ll listen to all the offers that come in from all around the world,” Hearn said to ESPN. “The preference for this fight and A.J.’s sole desire for this fight is for it to take place in the U.K.
“Now, I’m not a big fan of A.J. boxing behind closed doors, personally. Even if it’s a smaller crowd, it’s something we may have to consider.”
It won’t be nearly as bad for Joshua vs. Pulev to take place behind closed doors in 2020 compared to a Tyson Fury vs. A.J. match-up in 2021 without fans. There would be huge money lost by that fight taking place without fans in attendance, and that’s something that won’t happen.
Hearn, Joshua, and Fury likely won’t sacrifice that kind of money. If boxing fans are still not allowed to attend live events in 2021, then that fight might get kicked down the road until 2022.
If Joshua got rid of his IBF title, then his problems with Pulev would be over. Pulev could then go after the vacant IBF belt against the next highest ranked contender in the International Boxing Federation’s top 15 rankings.
In this case, it would be #2 IBF Charles Martin. Pulev vs. Martin would be an awful fight, but at least Joshua wouldn’t need to worry about defending the IBF strap against an opponent that fans have no interest in seeing.
“It’s very likely that if you want to fight this year, you’ll have to fight behind closed doors,” said Hearn to BBTV British Boxing Television. “People naturally assumed that live crowds would be back in June or July, but may not even be this year. We know that the British Boxing Board of Control will only allow five fights per night,” said Hearn.
The fights behind closed doors aren’t as much of a problem for the non-stars, but Joshua is too big of a name for him to give up the gate money.
