Eddie Hearn is already planning for Anthony Joshua for a hoped-for undisputed heavyweight clash against Tyson Fury in February 2022. Matchroom Boxing promoter Hearn says December is too soon for the Joshua vs. Fury fight because the two still need to win their upcoming respective fights this year.
December would be too soon, particularly for Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs), who is facing Deontay Wilder on October 9th. That might not be as easy of a fight for Fury as his last one was against ‘The Bronze Bomber a year and a half ago in February 2020.
Hearn recently made a deal for Joshua and Fury to fight in Saudi Arabia on August 14th, but the plans were dashed after a U.S arbitrator ruled in Deontay’s favor that Tyson must face him next.
Fury had tried to walk away from his contractual rematch with Wilder, which proved to be an ill-advised move on his part.
Despite the possibility of both Joshua and Fury losing their next fights, Hearn believes that the two will win and proceed to meet in February.
This could prove to be another mistake on Hearn’s part, as we’ve already seen Joshua get knocked out by Andy Ruiz Jr in 2019 when he looked past him towards other fights.
With Fury, there’s no telling what he has left after sitting around for almost two years, battling weight and COVID-19 problems.
A retooled Deontay with new coach Malik Scott could send Hearn’s dreams of a Joshua-Fury undisputed clash into oblivion by knocking out the Gypsy King on October 9th.
“We wanted to do it in December,” said Hearn to Talksport on the undisputed fight between Joshua and Fury. “But I think with AJ fighting September 25, Fury now delayed until October, I think February is more realistic.”
Interestingly, Hearn isn’t discussing the possibility of Wilder facing Joshua in February rather than Fury. What happens if Wilder defeats Fury? Is February still an option for the undisputed clash with Joshua, or will AJ take the fight with Fury, even though he’s coming off a loss? You can’t rule that scenario out, as Joshua himself has said he would still fight Fury even if he had no belts.
Well, if Fury loses to Wilder, this might be a good opportunity for him to go ahead and put that plan in action.
“They had a huge offer from Saudi Arabia to do the fight there,” Hearn continued. “It is about generating as much money for the fight as possible.
“With fans back in the UK, is that an option? Las Vegas? We’ll see. But first things first, let’s just beat Usyk because if that doesn’t go to plan, we can forget about it,” said Hearn.
One gets the sense that Joshua vs. Fury is a fight that Hearn wants so badly that he’d be willing to make it still even if one or both of them lose their next fights.
In Joshua’s case, it would be important that Hearn go ahead with the fight with Fury if Oleksandr Usyk beats him in their match on September 25th. Look at it this way. If Joshua elects to fight Usyk in an immediate rematch, he could lose that fight too.
Once that happens, Joshua’s career will be in dire shape. Maybe the UK boxing fans might have a sliver of interest in paying to see Joshua coming off consecutive losses to Usyk go ahead and fight Fury, but the U.S fans would see it as an unappealing fight.
Unfortunately, you can’t rule out Joshua and Fury losing their next contest. I know Hearn doesn’t want to discuss it, but there’s a very real possibility it could happen.
It would be somewhat interesting, like watching a car wreck on the side of the road, but it wouldn’t have any bearing. That why it’s important for Joshua or Fury NOT to try and avenge their losses if they get beaten in their next fights against Usyk and Wilder.
They should go ahead with the Joshua-Fury fight anyway and then circle back afterward and try and avenge their losses.