By Jake Tiernan: Eddie Hearn says he wants to revisit the Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury negotiations to try and make that fight if the Oleksandr Usyk-Fury fight fails to happen next.
Hearn states that Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) must win his April 1st fight against Jermaine Franklin, and if he looks good, Eddie wants to make the Fury fight for AJ immediately.
Fury and Joshua attempted to put a fight together last December, but the negotiations fizzled when Tyson drew a line in the sand, insisting that the match take place on December 3rd, which was never going to happen, given that AJ was coming off a second defeat against Usyk last August.
Hearn might be a little too hopeful about the Joshua-Fury fight potentially happening because he’s failing to be mindful of how problematic it’s become to negotiate with Fury.
His ego has left this galaxy after his two wins over Deontay Wilder, Dereck Chisora, and Dillian Whyte.
Fury seems to view himself as being above the other heavyweights in terms of popularity, so it could prove too difficult for Hearn to negotiate with him.
For starters, Joshua would likely need to take the smaller purse split to get a fight with Fury, and there could be short deadlines thrown in his path that AJ would need to agree to just like last time.
“I reckon they’ll get a deal done, but if they don’t get a deal done, I want to sit down with George Warren and make Tyson Fury against Anthony Joshua straight after the AJ-Franklin fight on April the 1st,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV bout him wanting to make that Joshua-Fury if the Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk negotiations implode.
“We have the terms agreed. Financially, the fight is twice as big as Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk. We would sign that fight now subject to victory against Franklin.
“But all eyes on April 1st. We need to see how he looks, and we need and he needs to get that win,” Hearn said about Joshua. “Deontay Wilder wants all kinds of fights. He just went out to Saudi to see what’s out there really,” Hearn said when told that Wilder would like to fight Usyk if the Fury-Usyk fight fails to happen.
“He’s looking for the big fights. I don’t believe he beats Oleksandr Usyk at all. I’d like to see it. It’s a good fight. Wilder is another guy that if AJ comes through April 1st that he’s someone he should be looking to fight in 2023 as well,” said Hearn
