Eddie Hearn, speaking with Boxing Social after today’s official weigh-in for the Leigh Wood-Josh Warrington fight, said that “the news yesterday from the IBF changes things a little bit” in regards to who Anthony Joshua fights next. As fans may have read, the news from the IBF was that the winner of the upcoming heavyweight unification clash between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk must fight IBF mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic next.
However, with yesterday’s other news of there being a rematch clause in place for the Usyk-Fury fight, with the loser able to activate it and get the return, plenty of people, Hearn included, do not think the winner of Fury-Usyk will fight Hrgovic in their next fight – they will instead box the far bigger, far more lucrative fight that is the rematch. So, this would likely lead the IBF to strip the Fury-Usyk winner and have Hrgovic fight the next ranked IBF contender for the vacant belt. And this is where AJ comes in.
Hearn, who said the much talked about Joshua-Deontay Wilder fight is “much bigger,” added how the Hrgovic fight “comes with a world title.”
Here’s what Hearn had to say:
“You saw yesterday, the IBF, basically saying that, he’s going to fight Filip Hrgovic for the world title,” Hearn said of AJ. “It’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out. He is desperate to become a three-time heavyweight champion, and I believe he’s gonna do it. The news yesterday from the IBF changes things a little bit. Basically, the winner of Fury-Usyk has to fight Filip Hrgovic, or they’ll be stripped…..and they’re not going to. [So] that’s [AJ-Hrgovic] the fight. And I believe that fight will potentially happen for the world title, and if it does, we have to look at that. We’ve got the Wilder fight….there’s a lot to think about. But that news certainly changes things.”
It sounds to me as though Joshua will wind up fighting Hrgovic if the folks at the IBF do strip the winner of Fury-Usyk for not fighting the unbeaten Croatian next. And if this does happen, Joshua has a great shot at becoming a three-time champ. Let’s face it, Hrgovic has not looked great in his last two fights. Then again, neither has Joshua.
As Hearn said, we’ll have to see how things play out. But with the IBF’s ruling of yesterday, Joshua’s chances of ruling at least a portion of the heavyweight landscape once again might have been thrown one big bone.
