By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn sounded like a man about to have kittens today, expressing his worry about the possibility of Anthony Joshua getting knocked out by his replacement opponent Robert Helenius tonight at the O2 Arena in London, live on DAZN.
If Joshua loses to Helenius, the massive money payday from the Saudis to fight Deontay Wilder next January will be down the drain.
Helenius (32-4, 21 KOs) isn’t the type of opponent that you typically bring in on one week’s notice unless you’re a foolish gambler who hasn’t done your homework on this guy.
This is Hearn’s baby. It’s believed that he’s the one that hand-picked the big-punching Helenius as AJ’s replacement, just as he was the guy that selected Andy Ruiz Jr. to fight Joshua in June 2019 after Jarrell Miller was removed from the card after a positive drug test.
“When I’m selling it to you, it’s okay, but as I’m selling it to you, I’m also worried because I cast my mind back to Andy Ruiz, and then you know, and you also look at it, and this isn’t the this is of no concern to the viewer but the money that AJ’s now making compared to what he was making, is it actually worth this risk or gamble?” said Eddie Hearn to DAZN Boxing Show.
“Do you know what I mean? But with AJ and this is such a great attitude, and I’m the same. If you can’t beat Robert Helenius, you ain’t beating Deontay Wilder, and many will say, ‘Yeah, but if you lose to Helenius, you don’t get the Wilder payday.’
“Don’t worry about that. You don’t deserve to be in there. Sure, you’ve got to go through people like Robert Helenius. You’re telling me, the sparring partners are telling me that they’ve never seen AJ like this before. That’s it.
“If he goes out on Saturday night and puts in a brilliant performance and knocks this guy spark out, the momentum starts to build again, people start believing in him who are non-believers, people start believing again that he can beat Deontay Wilder,” Hearn said about Joshua.
“Of course, he can beat Deontay Wilder. It’s a dangerous fight, but, of course, he can beat him. Where is this mindset that all of a sudden, AJ’s a massive underdog against Deontay Wilder? Who has Deontay Wilder ever beat? Luis Ortiz, who’s 40 years old or something like that, and by the way, he [Joshua] lost every single round to him until he knocked him out.
“Start putting some respect on AJ’s name. I know you’re one of the last ones, but let’s just look at it logically, and that’s what I want I want momentum. But I could never champion this man enough,” said Hearn about Joshua.
