Script written for mega-bucks battle
THE fight between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko is expected to gross £30-million (R519.3-million) and was confirmed by the two camps just four hours before the Londoner stepped into the ring against Eric Molina on Saturday, promoter Eddie Hearn revealed yesterday.
Hearn thinks Joshua’s IBF belt, the vacant WBA title and also The Ring Magazine belt will be on the line when the pair meet at Wembley Stadium on April 29.
Joshua and Klitschko are expected to share around £18-million (R312million), the promotional team optimistic that there will be more than a million pay-per-view buys on Sky Box Office with Wembley set up for 90 000 spectators, which would surpass Froch-Groves II in May 2014.
Joshua and Klitschko will go headto-head tomorrow for the first of a series of events around the fight. Both have signed up for testing with the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency.
Hearn said the final deal “was only done officially four hours before the fight”. Joshua signed for the fight in his dressing-room after beating Molina.
Joshua himself remains humble and, asked if victory over Klitschko would usher in “The Joshua Era”, the 27-year-old, with 18 wins all by stoppage, said: “If I beat him, people will say he is past his time, If I lose people will say ‘this guy is a hype job’.
“It is just a fight. If the winner is the number one heavyweight then I will still have to go prove it again, and again, and again, and again. That is why it doesn’t mean anything.
“You can’t just build yourself up and get carried away. Beat Klitschko, then they say you have to beat David Haye, then Luis Ortiz, then Tyson Fury. Chill, keep grinding then one day we can look back. That is a long way away.”
Of the Wembley bout, Hearn added: “We will go on sale before Christmas for a certain amount. We’re looking to go to 90 000. I think we have permission for about 80 000 and then we have to speak to Mr Khan, the mayor, to improve that with some transport around it.”
Hearn believes it will be bigger than Froch-Groves II. “Capacity-wise, for sure. But this is a unique fight, two - Olympic champions, two guys at different stages of their careers. We’ve got the hottest prospect in world boxing against a legend in the heavyweight division.”
Beating the 41-year-old Ukrainian, who reigned the heavyweight division for nine years, will elevate Joshua to new levels. Hearn said: “Once you’ve had a fight like Wladimir Klitschko and you earn what you earn from that fight, you can’t go back into a voluntary defence against just somebody or even a mandatory defence. It will be very difficult to maintain all the belts.”
Hearn believes Joshua beat Klitschko and is already looking ahead: “I think after Wladimir Klitschko, the fight is Deontay Wilder [the WBC champion].” — The Daily Telegraph