Eddie Hearn confirms Joshua vs. Wilder & Fury vs. Usyk on same night in December

By Boxing News - 05/03/2023 - Comments

By Charles Brun: Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has confirmed that he’s had successful talks with the Saudis about putting together a mega-fight card in December, with former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua fighting Deontay Wilder and champions Oleksandr Ussyk and Tyson battling for the undisputed four-belt championship.

Hearn told Boxing Social that “concrete offers are coming this week” from the Saudis on the Joshua-Wilder clash in December. Joshua told Hearn that he “100%” wants the fight with the former WBC champion Wilder (43-2-1, 42 KOs).

The only fly in the ointment for the Joshua-Wilder bout is Hearn & Joshua’s desire to take a summer warm-up fight in July to prepare for the contest against the hard-hitting Wilder.

If Joshua (25-3, 22 KOs) loses the tune-up, which is entirely possible given his poor success inside the ring since 2019, his match with Wilder will be off.

The Saudis won’t be interested in putting on that fight if Joshua is coming off a loss, which would be his fourth in his last seven fights.

Given how fragile Joshua’s chin has been over the last four years and how shaky he appeared in his confidence booster against the light-hitting Jermaine Franklin on April 1st, Hearn would be a fool to let AJ take a risky summer bout, be it against journeyman Dillian Whyte or one of the other bottom-level fringe contenders.

Whyte is like an unexploded ordinance buried in the ground for 50 years after a war, still dangerous and liable to go off if disturbed. He’s still lethal for fighters with punch resistance issues.

The only safe stay-busy summer bout for Joshua would be against a heavyweight with no power, someone like Agit Kabayel, who won’t be a threat to knocking him out and spoiling the plans for a Wilder bout in December.

AJ & Wilder are both want fight

“We’re being told that Wilder’s in. And, subject to finalizing some of the terms, we’re in,” said Hearn to Boxing Social about a fight between Joshua and Wilder in December in Saudi Arabia.

“So, in his mind, he’s fighting Deontay Wilder in December. Once that gets papered, we then work backward to the end of July or the first week of August.”

“We’re up for it. Concrete offers coming this week. AJ said, ‘100% I’m in to fight Wilder.’”

Well, obviously Joshua & Wilder want the fight in Saudi in December because there are oodles of dough to make from that bout.

Joshua to take summer tune-up

“I want him to fight. I think he wants to fight. I think Derrick James wants him to fight. So we’ve just to pick the right opponent because what it is is really a preparation for the [Deontay] fight,” said Hearn about Joshua’s summer tune-up.

“My priority right now is secure the Deontay Wilder fight, and every other decision will stem off that.”

This writer views a tune-up for the 33-year-old Joshua as a foolhardy move because AJ is a mental wreck at this stage of his career, and he’s too far gone to be taking risky warm-up matches against ANYBODY at this point.

Hearn thinks that Joshua will regain the form he had a decade ago by taking tune-up fights, but that’s not the reality. AJ is like an old car with 300,000 miles on the odometer.

It’s clear from watching Joshua’s fights since 2019 he’s not the fighter he once was, and no amount of tune-ups will return him to the form he had when he first turned professional in 2013.

You can’t give that car a tune-up and expect it to be what it was when you first drove it off the car lot when it was brand spanking new. It’s going to be old, regardless. Hearn needs to understand that Joshua has too many miles on him to be what he was 4,000 yesterdays ago.

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