Hearn: Joshua doesn’t want to fight Fury as Franchise champion

By Boxing News - 06/19/2020 - Comments

By Charles Brun: Anthony Joshua doesn’t want to fight Tyson Fury if he’s made the Franchise champion for the WBC, according to Eddie Hearn. He maintains that fans will question whether a unification clash between WBC champ Fury and IBF/WBA/WBO champion Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) can for the undisputed championship if Fury is Franchise champion.

Hearn says he doesn’t want to complicate the fans and confuse them by matching Joshua against Fury if he’s made Franchise champ. Instead, Hearn prefers that Fury face WBC mandatory Dillian Whyte in February 2021.

Hearn doesn’t want the date for Whyte’s title shot against Fury to be moved from February to later in the year.

Image: Hearn: Joshua doesn't want to fight Fury as Franchise champion

Whyte should get priority for Fury fight ahead of Joshua

“Dillian Whyte knows the work that’s been put in by us, his own team, and by the legal team to push the WBC,” said Hearn to IFL TV. “It’s an extremely tiresome process because it’s been going on for a long time. It’s a lot of emails and a lot of phone calls.

“The last of those is a letter from myself ten days ago in line with the other legal letters sent by our team and Dillian’s team to the WBC. And mine was to say, ‘Look, we’ve seen some interviews where the mandatory may be delayed because of the pandemic, and we wanted to say this can’t be one of them.

“The pandemic has no bearing on the fact that Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder will box only once this year. So we want to make sure that mandatory date [for Whyte] remains strong.

“I actually believe Dillian Whyte should get priority on Tyson Fury over Anthony Joshua, and it’s hard because everyone is putting pressure on me to make the Fury-AJ fight. But I’ve also got pressure from people saying, ‘What about Dillian Whyte?’ You’re not going to please everyone,” said Hearn.

The WBC, like all the other governing bodies, gives more weight to unification matches over mandatory defenses. So, Hearn is wrong that Whyte should be given the priority for a fight against Fury over Joshua.

The fight that the boxing world wants to see is Fury vs. Joshua, not Fury-Whyte.

A straight title shot for Dillian wanted by Hearn

“So if you ask me in terms of the timeframe, Dillian Whyte should get that fight [against Fury] BEFORE Anthony Joshua,” said Hearn. “Dillian Whyte is supposed to fight for the WBC world title before the end of February 2021, and we believe that should stay in place, especially if Deontay Wilder is not fighting Tyson Fury this year.

“It should just be straight, Dillian Whyte. I saw Arum’s comments talking about, ‘Oh, that’s [Fury vs. Whyte] not a big fight. That’s just another Tom Schwarz or Otto Wallin.’ How disrespectful to Dillian Whyte. This is a guy that has beaten numerous top 10 contenders.

“He’s been #1 for hundreds and hundreds of days, he’s boxed three headline fights, and is probably about to box another headline pay-per-view fight. You’re trying to equate him to Top Schwarz. No disrespect to Tom Schwarz. Then you’ve got other people trying to put the boot in.

“‘Maybe if he [Whyte] wasn’t with Eddie and he was with me. I’d get him a shot at a world championship. Dillian knows the work that’s gone in, and we’re pushing on it. I feel like with all the bull-s*** that went on with the Oscar Rivas fight.

“Dillian suffered a one-year delay in a case where he was proven to be completely innocent. How does that work? But he took it on the chin. He wasn’t happy,” said Hearn.

Whyte has been waiting since last July for his title shot, but that’s normal though for challengers to wait for fore their title shot.

Image: Hearn: Joshua doesn't want to fight Fury as Franchise champion

Whyte’s date for title shot can’t be moved again – Hearn

“In my opinion, what was the worst decision ever, ‘Alright, it’s February 2021 [For Dillian’s mandated title shot with WBC]. That’s the date. Congratulations.’ That can’t change,” said Hearn about the WBC’s decision to mandate Whyte get his title shot by February 2021.

“He’s already had bad luck with the movement of that date to February 2021. You CAN’T move it again. So that’s what we’re asking. The obvious move here is to make Tyson Fury Franchise champion. I’ve discussed it with Dillian, and it’s pretty obvious,” said Hearn.

Certainly, the date for Whyte’s title shot against WBC champion Fury can be moved, and the reason for that is because the pandemic has delayed the Fury-Wilder III contest. The pandemic has thrown off the date for the Fury vs. Wilder trilogy match, pushing it to December 2020

With the delay in that fight, the World Boxing Council isn’t going to force the Fury-Wilder 3 winner to face Whyte next February.  It doesn’t matter how anxious Hearn is for Whyte to get his long-awaited title shot.

The WBC can’t force Fury or Wilder to stick to the original date in their guidelines for the fight because the variables have changed. Hearn just needs to take it easy, and realized that Whyte will eventually get his title shot as long as he doesn’t lose to somebody.

Haney never got his fight against Lomachenko

“I’ve seen this with Devin Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko, where Vasiliy Lomachenko was the WBC world champion,” said Hearn. “Devon Haney wanted to fight Vasily Lomachenko. So we stayed with the WBC, moved up their governing body, and finally got a final eliminator for the world title.

“He fought Zaur Abdullaev, and he was also the interim [WBC] world championship because Lomachenko was going to have an undisputed fight [with IBF champion Teofimo Lopez]. Bang! We [Haney] were the mandatory to Vasily Lomachenko.

“All of a sudden Top Rank requests that Lomachenko is made Franchise champion, and the WBC made Lomachenko Franchise champion. That means you cannot get near him; you cannot touch him, and he never has a mandatory, and if he ever loses, he’s still WBC Franchise champion.

“What’s the point of searching for greatness if you’re never allowed to get there when you deserve it. So in that instance, we’ve spent all that money pushing Devin Haney up the WBC rankings having sanctioned events, international titles, Silver titles, final eliminators, interim world titles, only to be told that you can’t fight the champion.

“Then you become the world champion, and it’s an honor to become WBC world champion. Devin Haney is WBC lightweight world champion, but you don’t get the respect. You get the criticism because people ‘it’s an email belt.’ It’s not Devin Haney’s fault. Devin Haney was desperate to fight the WBC world champion Vasiliy Lomachenko, and then he was told he couldn’t do it,” Eddie said.

From Top Rank’s perspective, they had a reason for wanting Lomachenko made Franchise champion. The unification fight between Lomachenko and IBF champion Teofimo Lopez is a bigger money match than a fight involving Haney. Besides that, Teofimo is one of Top Rank’s fighters, so it made sense for them to make that fight.

Image: Hearn: Joshua doesn't want to fight Fury as Franchise champion

Hearn doesn’t want Joshua getting Fury before Whyte

“So Dillian Whyte has spent years and years grafting up the WBC’s rankings, paying sanctioning fees for Silver titles, international titles, interim world titles, eliminators, final eliminators to make sure that he can get a shot at the WBC world champion,” continued Hearn.

“This is to get his payday, get his legacy, and his chance to achieve his dream. And then just as he’s there, a few months away, you say, ‘Tyson Fury, you’re our new [WBC] Franchise champion. Dillian, sorry, you can’t get him. But great news, you are the new WBC heavyweight champion of the world.’

“And everyone says, ‘You’re not the real heavyweight world champion of the world, are you?’ I know the game, and I know how it’s going to play out. We’re saying, ‘We don’t want to become WBC world heavyweight champion without fighting the champion.

“I don’t want Anthony Joshua to fight Tyson Fury as Franchise champion because then it starts. ‘Is that undisputed?’ It’s too complicated. Don’t complicate things. Boxing is complicated enough. Fans get angry when it becomes over-complicated and diluted.

Tyson Fury has a mandatory challenger [Whyte] in his position as a world champion. The mandatory is Dillian Whyte. Dillian doesn’t want, ‘Congratulations, you’ve been upgraded from interim to world champion.’

No. Do you want Dillian to become a world champion like that? No. So let’s just follow the rules and follow the guidelines. He’s already had a rough road and has had to wait. So that’s the date, February 2021. If it means that AJ has to fight the winner in the summer, then no big deal.

“AJ isn’t going to fight until November or December anyway. If it’s my choice, Dillian fights for the world title within the written guidelines,” said Hearn.

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