By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn took the opportunity on Monday to kick sand in the face of Tyson Fury by comparing his resume to Matchroom fighter Anthony Joshua and ridiculing it.
Hearn doesn’t think much of many of the fighters Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) has feasted on since making his comeback in 2018.
Fury took a couple of soft jobs in Sefer Seferi and Francesco Pianeta before getting serious and facing the talented 6’7″ Deontay Wilder in December 2018.
Now the WBC heavyweight champion, Fury, gave his critics ammunition to bombard him when he recently attempted to fight with the bottom feeder contender Agit Kabayel for December 5th.
Last Sunday, Fury let his followers known on social media that he’s no longer planning on fighting Kabayel and that he won’t be back inside the ring until 2021.
Hearn prematurely crowns Joshua as the “baddest”
“Not one person can have any doubt after that fight, who the baddest man on the planet is,” said Hearn to Sky Sports in talking about Joshua. “Whyte, Breazeale, Klitschko, Takam, Parker, Povetkin, Ruiz, Pulev. These are consecutive fights.
“You don’t see Schwarz, Wallin, Seferi. It’s laughable when you compare the two résumés,” said Hearn.
I hate to drizzle on Hearn’s parade, but the guys he proudly mentions as former opponents for Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) aren’t that special. Let’s look at Hearn’s list of former AJ opponents carefully, shall we?
Joshua’s best wins are against flawed fighters
- Dominic Breazeale – knocked out in the first round by Deontay in May 2019, and he hasn’t fought since. Breazeale lasted seven rounds against Joshua in 2016. So what can we determine from that? Gee, I think it seems obvious that Wilder is a better fighter than Joshua.
- Dillian Whyte – he was recently obliterated in five rounds by 41-year-old Alexander Povetkin on August 22. Joshua stopped an injured Whyte in seven rounds in 2015. Whyte had a shoulder injury for the AJ fight, and yet he still lasted seven rounds.
- Wladimir Klitschko – over 40 and coming off of a year layoff at the time he fought Joshua. Many believe that Klitschko would have won if he’d gone for the finish after dropping Joshua in the sixth. Wladimir was well past his prime at the time he fought Joshua.
- Joseph Parker – The 12-round decision win by Joshua over Parker in 2018 was tarnished due to the referee Giuseppe Quartarone preventing inside fighting. If you saw that fight, you’ll have noticed that Parker was pulled away from Joshua when he attempted to fight in close.
- Alexander Povetkin – Wladimir Klitschko had already knocked him out before Joshua fought him.
- Carlos Takam – This was a replacement opponent for Joshua in 2017 after Kubrat Pulev injured his shoulder. Also, Takam had already been knocked out by Povetkin before he fought Joshua.
- Andy Ruiz Jr – He was another replacement opponent for Joshua, and he knocked him out. In the rematch last December, Joshua fought timidly in constantly moving to beat the out of shape California native by a dull 12 round decision.
“AJ has consistently proved that he will fight all-comers – mandatory challengers, unified champions, future Hall of Famers,” said Hearn.
“Anybody, and now he’s doing it again, and that’s why when you talk about [Oleksandr] Usyk, he will fight Usyk no problems at all, but he wants to fight Tyson Fury. He wants to prove he’s the best heavyweight in the world.”
Joshua will be defending next month against 40-year-old Kubrat Pulev on December 12th at the Wembley Arena in London. If Joshua loses this fight, he can forget about facing Fury in early 2021.