Hearn tells Fury not to take fight before AJ clash
EDDIE Hearn says he is as close to 100 per cent as he can be that a fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury will happen in 2021, but does not want Manchester’s WBC champion to have a warm-up bout beforehand.
The build-up to Saturday’s world heavyweight clash between Joshua and Kubrat Pulev at Wembley’s SSE Arena – where the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO titles are on the line – continues to be dominated by ‘Battle of Britain’ talk.
An agreement in principle for Joshua and Fury to finally go head-tohead has been in place since earlier this summer, but Hearn wants the majority of the finer details confirmed by the time this weekend’s action gets under way.
Defeat to Bulgarian Pulev would scupper those plans, but Hearn said: “I am as close to 100 per cent as I can be that the Fury fight will happen if AJ wins this weekend.”
Saturday will be Joshua’s first bout in 12 months while Fury had been set to get back in the ring last weekend following his February knockout victory over Wilder in Las Vegas.
A proposed December 5 contest in London was due to be a warm-up to the main event next summer.
However, those plans were shelved last month with Fury revealing on Twitter ‘the Gypsy King is returning in 2021’ and Hearn hopes that will be against Joshua, otherwise his fighter may have to face Oleksandr Usyk, who is now the mandatory challenger for the WBO title.
The Matchroom promoter added: “If Tyson has a warm-up fight, we’ll fight Usyk and then everything gets… there is no reason for a warm-up fight.
“He boxed in February and he does
not have the style where he needs a warm-up fight. It will be straight in and I think he is happy with that.”
There is every chance Fury could be in the ring with Joshua after Saturday’s main event if he accepts Hearn’s offer to attend the night.
With cousin Hughie also on the undercard, there is extra incentive for the 32-year-old to be in the stands.
“If I was Fury, I’d want to watch AJ up close and that is why AJ came to the Usyk fight. To support (Dereck) Chisora but really to watch Usyk up close,” said Hearn.
“I think it is worthwhile Fury coming for many reasons and then I’d like to be in a position on Saturday to say we have a deal, we have an agreement, these are the dates we are working to and now we will find a venue.”
Wembley has long been mooted as a destination for the first of two fights between the pair, but only on the proviso it could host a full capacity.
Hearn is anticipating interest from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi with predicted paper-per-view figures for the ‘Battle of Britain’ more than two million.