AJ’S Fury over big fight snub
ANTHONY JOSHUA fears he will never get the chance to fight Tyson Fury after their summer showdown collapsed.
That is the view of Matchroom chief Eddie Hearn, who was furious when Deontay Wilder won an arbitration case to fight Fury for a third time.
It left the all-british undisputed heavyweight meeting in tatters and meant Joshua must now face WBO mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk next.
Hearn said: “He never felt they wanted the fight, he never felt like Fury wanted it.
“He always doubted it and when it fell through, he was like ‘I f ****** knew it, you’re f ****** jokes, all of you’.
“It was very strange to see AJ react on Twitter and he fired a few out
– he usually does one and goes quiet.
“AJ, in his head, probably thinks the fight will never happen. I would like to be more hopeful and I think it will happen.
“If AJ knocks out Usyk and Fury knocks out Wilder, then in four months’ time we are talking about an even bigger fight.”
WBC champion Fury will face Wilder on July 24 at the T-mobile Arena in Las Vegas, while WBA, IBF and WBO title holder Joshua will take on Usyk on September 18 or 25 at Wembley or Tottenham Hotspur.
“We just hope that everywhere is open because we want to do 60-70,000 at Spurs,” said Hearn.
He was speaking yesterday at the launch of his threedate ‘Fight Camp’ series which will kick off on July 29 as part of his new TV deal with DAZN.
Conor Benn will headline the first show against Adrian Granados at Hearn’s former family home in Brentwood, Essex, after penning a new five-fight deal with Matchroom.
Hearn said: “We have mapped out a plan to take him to the world title over five fights. So by the end of next year he will fight for the world title.”