Eddie Hearn believes a fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury will be much easier to make than a fight between Joshua and Deontay Wilder.
Wilder and Fury are scheduled to face each other in a pay-per-view rematch on Feb. 22. Whatever the outcome, a trilogy is reportedly in the works for the summer. That could leave Joshua as the odd man out. Joshua, who recently reclaimed his three heavyweight titles from Andy Ruiz on Dec. 7 in Saudi Arabia, has mandatory defenses against Kubrat Pulev and Oleksandr Usyk. It appears he’ll face Pulev first.
In any event, a showdown between Joshua and either Wilder or Fuy is not likely to happen in 2020, Hearn explained on a recent episode of the Chris Mannix Boxing Podcast.
“It may just be Pulev and Usyk for us (in 2020),” Hearn said. “… With Joshua losing against Ruiz, it was all over. Now it’s back on, and it’s bigger than ever. But how long do you want to wait. How greedy do you want to be?”
Hearn continued: “As Anthony said the other night, I think if Fury wins, that fight happens just like that, with Joshua. If Wilder wins, it’s a little bit more complicated. Few more egos, a bit more politics.”
Attempts to make a Joshua-Wilder fight last spring culminated with DAZN, the sports streaming company that holds rights to Joshua and Hearn’s Matchroom stable, offering Wilder a reported nine-figure multi-fight deal. Wilder, along with managers Al Haymon and Shelly Finkel, met with DAZN CEO John Skipper in March. Wilder ended up declining the offer.
“The difference is, with Fury, he will make things happen personally,” Hearn said. “If Fury wants that fight, he will find a way to make it happen, with him and MTK. [Fury’s promoter Frank] Warren don’t got any involvement with Fury anymore, a little bit on the U.K. side. Obviously Top Rank do and MTK is driving it, but fury is like his own man. He’s his own boss. He’ll just tell them. They’ll fall out, but Fury’s not afraid of that.”
“Whereas I feel like Wilder is being told what to do. That’s the difference. AJ is his own boss as well. If AJ turns around to me and says I want that fight, we have to go and make it, and if we don’t make it, we haven’t done our job.”