By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua doesn’t want a “s**t fight” for his next bout in March after a seven-month rest.
At the same time, Hearn states that Dillian Whyte is Joshua’s frontrunner for his fight in March, which some boxing fans would categorize as a “s**t fight” and then some. Whyte, with his 2-2 record in his last four fights, has been stopped twice.
If Hearn isn’t calling Whyte a “s**t fight” for Joshua, you’d hate to see what he does consider one.
The 34-year-old Whyte is arguably Chisora 2.0 at this stage of his career, but with a more fragile chin with not much to offer other than him being a recognizable name for British boxing fans.
Hearn says Joshua wouldn’t fight in December because of Christmas. He’s also looking for a new coach, and whoever he selects to replace the outgoing Robert Garcia is going to need time to make improvements to his game.
Good options for Joshua:
- Filip Hrgovic
- Joe Joyce
- Frank Sanchez
- Bakhodir Jalolov
- Deontay Wilder
- Andy Ruiz Jr
“He wants to come back; he wants to come back quickly. When you miss an opportunity like Fury, then your mojo goes a little bit,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV about Anthony Joshua’s next fight.
“Then you get to November, and you’re like, ‘I’m probably not going to fight in December.’ Then it’s like, ‘I’ve got Christmas, and I’m not going to fight in January.’ February is there, and you’re probably not going to fight until March, and that’s where we’re at.
“He’s staying out in the Middle East, he’s having a holiday, and then he’s going to go back into camp. So the plan for us is the middle end of March, really.
“Then you get comments, ‘Why is he going to the end of March?’ Just because he wanted to have a couple of more weeks of holiday, really. He’s still focused; he’s still hungry.
“We talked about fights; Andy Ruiz was there. Obviously, Deontay Wilder is a fight for him. People talk about Otto Wallin. There are a lot of good fights out there for Anthony, but he’s not really interested in having a s**t fight, in all honesty.
“Not just because he doesn’t want to have an easy night. He doesn’t think any of them are easy. You’ve got Dillian Whyte against Franklin coming up. The winner of that fight is probably the frontrunner to face AJ in March, but anything can happen.
“Otto Wallin is a dangerous fight. You saw it against Tyson Fury. It might be an easier fight than someone else. You’ve got Hrgovic, Zhang, all these people. They’re all dangerous, dangerous fights.
“I think AJ looks at them and goes, ‘I think it’s more dangerous to have a perceived easy fight. I’d rather fight Wilder, Whyte, or whoever,” said Hearn.