By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn still has no idea where he’s going to stage the November title fight between IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and his mandatory Kubrat Pulev. The latest plans from Joshua’s Matchroom promoter Hearn is to potentially stage the Pulev fight on a boat or in a castle.
It sounds like dream stuff from Hearn, and he’s going to be running out of time soon if he doesn’t make up his mind. Eddie’s #1 choice for the Joshua vs. Pulev fight is to have it take place at the O2 Arena in London, and he believes that 16,000 fans may show up for that.
The problem with staging Joshua-Pulev at the O2 is the pandemic. It’s expected to continue to be an obstacle for sporting events through the remainder of 2020. By November, things could be worse on the virus front with a second wave hitting, and making it even tougher to put together fights.
Eddie with lots of ideas for Joshua-Pulev fight location
Hearn needs the UK government to ease off the restrictions for crowds for him to be able to place Joshua’s title defense against Pulev at the O2 in November.
The vaccine probably won’t be available until December or in the first quarter of 2021, which means the chances of Joshua battling Pulev at the O2 are slim for November. It could work if Hearn is willing to postpone the fight until after the vaccine is produced, but he’s not going to do that.
If all these wacky ideas of Hearn’s fail to pan out, he can always stage the Joshua-Pulev match in his backward at the Matchroom Fight Camp along with all the other domestic level fights that will be staged there.
That fight would fit in nicely with the likes of Dillian Whyte vs. Alexander Povetkin. If the Matchroom HQ is good enough for Whyte-Povetkin, it’s good enough for Joshua vs. Kubrat.
“Other ideas we have are 1,000 people somewhere strange and quirky. I’ve got a few things up my sleeve. We’re talking about castles, plush hotels, maybe even on a boat,” said Hearn to the Standard Sport.
“Croatia has offered a coliseum, and that’s beautiful, and we’re still open to options and flexible.
“These are all things thinking outside of the box — it just depends what’s allowed.”
Hearn has been kicking around a lot of ideas for where to stage the Pulev fight or ages now, and it’s strange that he still hasn’t made up his mind. As a result, fans aren’t excited about seeing Joshua face the 39-year-old.
Pulev doesn’t deserve a title shot
Firstly, the boxing public has seen Joshua fight too many old fighters already. Secondly, it’s a lousy fight given Pulev’s lack of quality wins in the last seven years of his career. I mean, Pulev beat Hughie Fury to become the IBF mandatory rather than having to defeat a quality heavyweight.
In other words, Pulev has done nothing to deserve a title shot against AJ. Thirdly, the casual boxing fans aren’t familiar with Kubrat, and the ones that aren’t don’t see him as a good fighter.
A lot of people still have that kissing episode fresh in their minds from last year in which Pulev kissed a female reporter after his win over 38-year-old Rydell Brooker last November.
“By November, can we go to 16,000 people at the O2? Right now, we’re handcuffed by the regulations,” said Hearn.
It would be more helpful if Hearn made up his mind right now about the location for Joshua’s next fight so that the fans focus on it right now. Hearn has got his work cut out for him to try and promote this mismatch, making it an impossible task to get people excited about it.