Eddie Hearn: ‘I didn’t say there were [Joshua – Fury] talks’

By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn is distancing himself from his recent comments about the Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury heavyweight undisputed clash likely to take place in February 2022.

Fury’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank tore into Hearn on Wednesday, saying that he talks too much and that we don’t know when Joshua and Tyson will be taking place in 2022.

Arum says he agrees with Hearn that WBC heavyweight champion Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) and IBF/WBA/WBO champ Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) will occur next year, but he doesn’t know what month.

He doesn’t even want to speculate at this point, particularly with Fury still needing to face dangerous Deontay Wilder on October 9th and Joshua scheduled to fight Oleksandr Usyk on September 25th.

Eddie backtracking at lightspeed

“Someone said, ‘when do you think that fight will happen when it happens?'” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV about his recent remark about Joshua vs. Fury taking place in February.

“I’m giving you what you want, clickbait. Let’s deal with Oleksandr Usyk. That’s the focus, that fight [Anthony Joshua vs. Usyk], and then we worry about the rest after.

“I didn’t say there were any talks [between Joshua and Fury],” said Hearn. “I said if that fight was to happen, I guess that’s the time that it would happen. It is [ a formidable task for Joshua facing Usyk],” said Hearn.

To Hearn’s credit, he didn’t say there were talks between Joshua and Fury. He just said that he thinks the two will fight in February, assuming they both win their next fights in 2021.

It might be better for Hearn to wait and see how Joshua and Fury’s next fights play out before he starts building a deck of cards.

By talking about the Joshua vs. Fury fight, Hearn is getting the fan’s hopes up, and he could be setting them up for a massive disappointment.

Hearn previews Benn vs. Granados card for Saturday

“This is how DAZN likes to do things. I can’t remember the last time we threw a party like this, can you?” said Hearn about this Saturday’s Matchroom Fight Camp card headlined by Conor Benn vs. Adrian Granados.

“This is the shape of things to come. Of course, Fight Camp this Saturday. It’s a massive new era for Matchroom. I’m so excited. Wait until you see the HQ.

“Last year was good, but this one is on another level. This is what the next five years are going to be about, just trying to bring the biggest shows, the greatest value to fight fans.

Let’s break down this card [for this Saturday]. The professional debut of Sandy Ryan, and, of course, Campbell Hatton as well on the card. Anthony Fowler fighting after the birth of his son.

“Anthony Fowler vs. Rico Mueller, a very good fighter from Germany. An unbelievable fight between [WBA ‘regular’ featherweight champion] Can Xu and Leigh Wood for the world featherweight title, and then a brilliant domestic level fight between Chris Billiam-Smith and Tommy McCarthy.

“Jack Cullen against Avni Yildirim, that’s gone well under the radar, and then Conor Benn against Adrian Granados. Saturday is an unbelievable card. It’s the shape of things to come,” said Hearn.

There are certainly some good fights on this Saturday’s Benn vs. Granados card on DAZN at the Matchroom Fight Camp.

Other than the main event, Can Xu vs. Leigh Wood and Jack Cullen vs. Avni Yildirim stand out a little because you’ve got potential barnburner.

It’ll be interesting to see how Cullen (19-2-1, 9 KOs) deals with Yildirim (21-3, 12 KOs), who is coming off a third-round stoppage loss to Canelo Alvarez last February.

Yildirim has lost his last two fights and hasn’t won a fight in three years since his narrow 12 round majority decision over Lolenga Mock in September 2018.

Although Cullen, 27, is pretty much just a domestic-level fighter, he’s got a real chance of beating Yildirim in their scheduled 10 round bout.