By Don Young: Negotiations are still underway for the June unification match between champions Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, but this should be a piece of cake victory for AJ, according to his promoter Eddie Hearn.
The Matchroom kingpin Hearn believes IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) will be too much for WBC belt holder Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) when they square off for their undisputed clash.
Eddie sees Joshua doing a number on Fury when the time comes for the two to get it on, and he may be right. Joshua is already in impeccable condition, and he looks far ahead of the appalling shape that Fury showed recently.
Fury inviting trouble
How Fury could have let himself go so badly is unclear, considering that he’s about to face his toughest career challenge against AJ. You have to be a mindreader to understand why Fury has chosen to slack off and let his physique go in the last year.
“I know that all he’s thinking about is Fury,” said Hearn to Sky Sports about Joshua being focused. “He’s working on the plan to beat this guy and become undisputed.
“I love the work he’s doing, the improvements he’s making, the mind-set. He has the mindset of a winner, of a champion. Fury is a fantastic fighter but AJ will do a job on him.
“The preparation starts now. Don’t think Fury isn’t doing the same. He knows. This may be the biggest fight of all time,” said Hearn.
The only thing this writer can come up with is perhaps Fury wants an excuse to give to the boxing public as well as himself if he loses to Joshua. You know how that goes.
A way of avoiding facing the ugly reality that you weren’t good enough is to not try hard. That way when you fail, you have an excuse to give to yourself and to the people around you for why you came up short.
Regrettably, it appears that’s what Fury is doing. Look at it this way. If Fury does beat Joshua, he can brag about how he beat him when he wasn’t in his best shape and blah-blah-blah.
The boxing public still hasn’t been given the magic words that the contracts have been signed for the Joshua vs. Fury mega-fight, but Hearn is still talking up the fight on a daily basis.
Should Fury have fought Wilder?
He doesn’t see anything stopping the contest from taking place, not even Fury’s contract issues with former WBC champion Deontay Wilder.
Ideally, it would have been better for Fury to have taken the fight with Wilder first so that he could be free and clear of it without worry.
‘The Gypsy King’ had his reasons for not wanting to face him again, and it might have something to do with the punching power Deontay possesses.
Hopefully, Fury’s decision to walk away from his contractual rematch with Wilder doesn’t come back to bite him and Joshua on their respective backsides, getting in the way of their mega-fight.
In a doomsday scenario, if Fury is forced to honor his agreement to face Wilder, it would horrific if he were to get knocked out by the American, which would spoil his dreams of a Joshua match.