Unsure
Eddie Hearn has ‘doubts’ over Tyson Fury’s offer to fight Anthony Joshua – but has held talks with Frank Warren camp and will try to do a deal
by Cameron Temple · talkSPORTEddie Hearn has told talkSPORT he has doubts over Tyson Fury’s offer to fight Anthony Joshua later in 2022 – but has opened talks about trying to make it happen.
After Oleksandr Usyk beat Joshua by split decision last month in their heavyweight world title rematch, the obvious next fight to make seemed to be an undisputed clash between the Ukrainian and the WBC champion, Fury.
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Initially, both men seemed to accept the challenge, but it has since fallen apart somewhat after Usyk made it clear that he did not want to fight again until next year, as he needs to recover from various injuries and he wants to spend time with his family.
This news was not taken well by Fury, who wants to fight in December and so he has quickly moved on from Usyk to find a new opponent, with his number one choice being Joshua in a huge all-British battle.
“Anthony Joshua, I know you’ve just lost a fight to Usyk and you’re beltless at the moment. I’d like to give you an opportunity to fight me for the WBC heavyweight championship of the world and the lineal championship in the next few months,” he declared on social media on Monday.
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Joshua has since replied on Twitter, saying, “Yea calm. I don’t do the online discussions just for clout, so if your really about it shout @258mgt. I’ll be ready in December. Khalas.”
This would be a very exciting prospect, as a Fury vs Joshua clash is one that British boxing fans in particular have been wanting for years, but AJ’s promoter, Hearn, is not convinced by the sincerity of ‘The Gypsy King’s‘ offer.
“I would love to get really excited about this,” Hearn told talkSPORT on Tuesday, “Because it’s the fight that I get stopped in the street for more than any fight that could be made and it’s a fight that AJ has wanted for a long time.
“Don’t forget, we signed for this fight last year before the arbitration forced the Deontay Wilder fight for Tyson Fury.
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“So, it’s an interesting one, because last week he [Fury] retired, then he came back to fight Usyk, then he made an offer to Derek Chisora, then he wanted half a billion, then he’d retired again, then he’s fighting Usyk in December and now he’s fighting AJ.
“The message is quite clear from AJ, we don’t want to get involved in a backwards and forwards, we want the fight, it’s the fight he’s wanted for a long time.
“We had plans after the Usyk defeat to come back in December and then go again in March, get active and get the rhythm going again and then try and fight for the world heavyweight title.
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“But, I know having spoken to AJ, if that fight is there and they’re serious, which I have my doubts about, but for the good of trying to make it happen let’s believe Tyson Fury and I said to George Warren from Queensberry last night, get the details and the offer over to us and I’ll take it to AJ, he’s ready to go.
“We didn’t expect this opportunity, but it’s a great opportunity to fight for the world title in the biggest fight in boxing and we will definitely look at it.
“For me and the cynic in boxing, this smells of, ‘Oh, we couldn’t agree the AJ deal so I’m fighting this bloke you’ve never heard of instead, but no one else was available.’
“But let’s take the cynic away and see what we get back from the Fury camp, because we’re ready to discuss it and we’re ready to make that fight for sure.”
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Hearn continued: “Fury’s outstanding at getting the public to believe absolute nonsense.
“It worries me actually what people do believe, if you look at the timeline over the last two or three weeks, it’s unbelievably bizarre.
“Personally, I don’t believe Fury is serious about this, but if he is, which I said to the Warrens last night, 100 percent we will sit down and make the fight.”
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