Promoter Bob Arum says he doesn’t believe Eddie Hearn is serious about wanting to put his struggling fighter Anthony Joshua in with WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury after AJ’s two recent defeats against Oleksandr Usyk.
Arum thinks Hearn is too smart to let former two-time champion Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) in with Fury because it would be a massacre. With Joshua’s self-confidence shot to bits after his consecutive losses to Usyk, he would have virtually no chance against Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs), who is in the zenith of his career right now.
Arum says he would gladly make the Fury-Joshua fight if Hearn and Joshua were serious about wanting this match, but he doesn’t believe they are.
“I don’t believe it’s going to happen because I don’t believe Hearn is serious about it,” said Bob Arum to Secondsout about a mega-fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
“If I was promoting after losing two fights in a row to Usyk, I would look to take two lesser fights for Joshua to regain his confidence before he fights at a top level because if Joshua goes in Fury, it’s going to be real brutal for Joshua.
“He’ll get beat even more than Usyk was able to do. Don’t give me that crap with the big fights not happening,” said Arum, suddenly losing his temper when told by the interviewer that his excuses for not making Joshua vs. Fury are the same mindset that prevents the big fights from happening.
“We’ve had only big fights happening in the heavyweight division, and you have to understand that you can’t always have a particular fight that you want. Fury-Joshua is not the big fight that it would have been if Joshua had beaten Usyk.
“Don’t give me the idea that promoters are keeping stuff back,” Arum continued with his rant. “Promoters are trying to make fights as best as they can. We try to present the best fights possible. Promoters here in the UK do the same.
“You can’t have instant gratification on every level. It’s impossible. Of course, I wouldn’t stand in the way, but the Joshua people and Eddie Hearn are too smart to put Joshua back in the fire now.
“Yeah, if he was really serious about it, sure we would do it,” said Arum.
