By Barry Holbrook: Eddie Hearn is beginning to sound impatient in wanting to know the availability of IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk for the rematch against Anthony Joshua.
Hearn says he’s going to begin asking questions soon of Usyk’s team about when he’ll be back from the war in Ukraine to defend his three titles against Joshua in their contractual rematch.
Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) is defending his contract in response to the recent Russian invasion, and not surprisingly, he’s not saying when he’ll be returning to defend his titles against former champion Joshua.
When Usyk returns from the war, it could take him a while to get in fighting shape because he may need to rebuild his physique. Being in a war has a way of slimming down soldiers.
Hearn has discussed scheduling Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) for an interim fight against a contender, but he says it won’t be against a top-three contender.
It would be too risky at this stage for Joshua to face a top-three contender with him having lost his last fight and two out of his previous four contests.
Joshua said last week that he would be open to fighting Joe Joyce or Joseph Parker for his interim fight. However, those fighters are probably not the opponent that Hearn is looking for Joshua to fight next. In other words, they might be a little too good for Joshua to use as a stay busy fight.
It’s got to be mentally tough on Joshua because he’s unable to get closure on his rivalry with Usyk in the way he did after his defeat against Andy Ruiz Jr. in 2019.
“We’re going to ask questions soon, but it’s not really been on the top of my mind to start probing around and asking, ‘If you’re ready to fight?’
“But we will have to ask soon, and they will have to make a decision,” said Eddie Hearn to the media last Saturday night about needing to know when Oleksandr Usyk will be available to fight Anthony Joshua in their contractual rematch.
“They’re going to have to decide whether they’ll [Team Usyk] be ready by the end of May or June, or we’ll put it back and have an interim bout. But we’re not letting the rematch go,” said Hearn.
“He’s working well with Angel [Fernandez] in Loughborough. Angel’s been a big part of the team for quite a few fights, it’s really about AJ being comfortable and happy, and he is in that position,” said Hearn to iFL TV on Joshua’s new trainer.
On the bright side, it’s better for Joshua to have more time to work with his new trainer Angel Fernandez before taking on Usyk in a rematch.
Ideally, one or two interim fights would help Joshua make the improvements he needs in his game before facing Usyk again. If they move the rematch into 2023, it’s better for Joshua because he’s going to need all the time he can get to prepare for Usyk.
What AJ needs is an opponent with a similar style to Usyk, who will make it difficult for him to figure them out. These would be good options:
- Frank Sanchez
- Agit Kabayel
- Michael Hunter
- Tony Yoka
- Hughie Fury
It’s got to be worrisome for Hearn, as he wants to rebuild Joshua’s image with the fans, and he can’t do that with Usyk unavailable for the rematch.
The longer that Joshua has to wait to erase the embarrassing image of his loss to Usyk the worse it’s going to be for him and Hearn.
To be sure, the war in Ukraine has upset Hearn & Joshua’s plans to avenge the loss to Usyk in a speedy fashion the way they did after AJ’s defeat against Andy Ruiz Jr. in 2019.
