It’s hard to see beyond the chaos of cancellations and postponements, but Eddie Hearn is trying to get a glimpse of what might happen if and when the coronavirus pandemic subsides.
Business as normal? Probably not.
More chaos is the best bet.
From the chaos, a scheduling scramble is likely.
Already, questions are emerging bout whether heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua’s mandatory title against Kubrat Pulev will happen on June 20 at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in north London. Pulev told a television network in his native Bulgaria, BTV, that he was told it would not.
The quote was picked up in by U.K. media. Hearn, of Matchroom Boxing and Joshua’s promoter, said he was still planning to move forward with the June 20 bout.
But Hearn also said there were contingencies for the bout to be moved to a later date and perhaps a different site. A complication is soccer. The season is suspended. But if the virus subsides, it will resume at the stadium at about the same time the Joshua-Pulev fight is scheduled.
Joshua-Pulev might have to move. But to when? And where? That opens up other possibilities, Hearn told Sky Sports.
“Well I think, all of a sudden, does the Joshua-[Tyson] Fury fight start taking priority, maybe over a Pulev fight, if the Pulev fight extends beyond the summer,’’ Hearn said. “There’s so much that could happen right now.
“I mean anything is possible, but contractually Deontay Wilder is going to want his fight next, whether that’s in July or whether there’s a force majeure (extraordinary event) that takes that to October, November, wherever.’’
Wilder exercised his option for a third fight with Fury after a stoppage loss to his British rival on Feb. 22 in Las Vegas. The projected day for the bout had been July 19. Now, however, it’s impossible to project anything. Fight cards have been cancelled through the end of April. Boxing, like the rest the sports business, has gone dark. Lights up and down the Vegas Strip are off for the foreseeable future.
“Right now, for us, we’re fighting Kubrat Pulev, June 20, and it could be July 25,” Hearn said.
“But everything is uncertain at the moment, while the country and the world tries to contain this pandemic.”