By Jim Strowbridge: Eddie Hearn reacted in exasperation on Thursday about the pessimistic talk from Tyson Fury’s promoter Bob Arum about his belief that the Saudi deal is little more than a “mirage” for the summer match with IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
Hearn insists that he’s going to get the deal done with the Saudis, who he says is the same group he worked with for the Andy Ruiz Jr vs. Joshua rematch in December 2019.
He trusts the people he’s working with, as he had a good experience with them the last time.
Hearn says he thinks that he’s carrying the load all by himself, doing all the work to put together the site deal with the Saudis while Arum sits back and takes potshots at him.
Eddie isn’t sure what Arum’s motive is for talking negatively to the press about the deal he’s trying to make for the Joshua vs. Fury fight but wonders whether he wants the fight.
Hearn: “No one else has lifted a finger”
“The only chance this fight has is if I pull something off,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV on the Joshua vs. Fury fight. “No one else has lifted a finger. No disrespect to Bob; he’s a legend promoter.
“He hasn’t dealt with a site offer of this magnitude before, and I have. This is the same people [in Saudi] that I closed the last huge site offer with [for the Joshua vs. Andy Ruiz Jr fight in December 2019].
“I trust them; they put it in writing, the deal is in place. We’re just going through the process of going through the long-form agreement between three or four different lawyers, which is very difficult for a fight the size of this magnitude.
“When you’re out there grafting, and you got somebody that is on the team, I can’t say they don’t want the fight because we all want the fight, but I get that feeling sometimes.
“What’s your game here? What don’t you like about this? ‘Eddie is desperate.’ I am desperate; I’m desperately trying to make this fight. ‘Oh, he’s running out of time,'” said Hearn.
Arum is close to 90-years-old at this point in his life, and with all the work that he likely would have done if he were younger, he’s letting Hearn do some of it.
Eddie denies he’s “running out of time”
Arum stated on Wednesday that Hearn is hurriedly pushing hard to get the Joshua vs. Fury fight done because this is the final fight for AJ on his contract with Matchroom.
Arum reasons that Hearn wants that final fight for Joshua to be with Fury rather than Oleksandr Usyk, which won’t make as much money. If Joshua leaves Matchroom, it would be better for them if his final fight is with Fury.
“What do you mean I’m running out of time,” said Hearn in responding to a comment from Arum about him being “desperate” because he’s running out of time due to Joshua’s contract expiring after one more fight.
“This is us; this is a co-promotion. This is the biggest fight in boxing. Is it just down to me? But that’s fine. If it’s down to me, there’s more pressure for me to make it, and I’ll take it seriously.
“I won’t be denied. So today, we’ll have another final version back from the site, and maybe that’ll be the final one? Maybe it’ll need a couple of changes; maybe it’ll take until tomorrow.
“There are no delays. It’s just the wording of a long-form agreement. It’s quite complicated. You’ve got to remember that there are lawyers from our side, lawyers from AJ’s side, lawyers from Tyson Fury’s side, about three of them. Everybody wants the deal to be right,” said Hearn.
