Joshua tipped to ‘break all the records’
Promoter Hearn predicts success after Parker fight Rival Wilder criticised for refusing to attend ‘Wilder said: I have to be in the ring after the fight. But we didn’t want it scripted’
Anthony Joshua has attracted more bets and been watched live by more people than any other British boxer. And yesterday his promoter, Eddie Hearn, predicted that more records would tumble if he continued to successfully “walk the tightrope” of his chosen profession.
“We’ll break all the records with him but he has to keep winning,” said Hearn, ever conscious of the upward curve between sporting gain and commercial growth ahead of tomorrow’s fight between the 28-year-old Londoner and his fellow unbeaten heavyweight champion Joseph Parker.
So far so good, with 20 wins, all by knockouts, and two world titles.
“People keep talking about the future, undisputed reigns, all the belts, Deontay Wilder, conquering America, but everything has to go right on Saturday night first. Everything can turn on a sixpence, in this division,” Hearn said.
Joshua has proved the catalyst for the resurgence in a heavyweight division that had slumbered for years under the reign of Wladimir Klitschko. The figures are astonishing, with bookmakers William Hill revealing yesterday that more than 100million bets had been placed on Joshua. Tomorrow night’s fight is expected to gross in the region of £30 million, mainly through an estimated pay-per-view rate of just under one million on television, plus 78,000 seats sold in Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
The undercard is one of the strongest seen in Britain, involving world champion Ryan Burnett, former champion Anthony Crolla, rising stars Josh Kelly, Joshua Buatsi and Joe Cordina, and an intriguing heavyweight contest between David Price and Alexander Povetkin. Those bouts will pay out around £1million in fight fees.
Price can redeem himself as a World Boxing Association contender for Joshua’s crown if he can defeat Russian Povetkin, the former world and Olympic champion, who tested positive for meldonium two years ago. It will be a very tough task for Price, yet his popularity will soar if he can unseat the 38-year-old fighter.
Joshua is expected to earn upwards of £15 million, with Parker taking £7million.
“The dust will clear on the division on Saturday night, and then we will make our planned move accordingly,” said Hearn, who was bitterly critical of World Boxing Council title-holder Wilder for backing out of attending the fight. He even turned down an offer to join the Sky commentary team.
The irony is that Wilder’s US paymaster, Showtime, is showing the fight live on their TV network. In that sense, his no-show appears to be a huge PR blunder, although, this being boxing, it may serve to just create more intrigue.
Should Joshua defeat Parker, Wilder’s absence looks certain to have pushed back any showdown fight between the pair to 2019. Not unusual in boxing.
“Wilder said, ‘I have to be in the ring after the fight’ but we didn’t want it scripted. He would most likely have been invited into the ring,” Hearn said. “He’d have been working for Sky. He would have been a yard from Joshua while he was getting interviewed. But he just didn’t fancy it. That tells me one thing. He doesn’t really want this fight.
“I made him an increased offer [believed to be £3.5 million] for June at the O2 Arena against Dillian Whyte. It doesn’t affect the Joshua fight, and frankly, if he doesn’t beat Whyte, he shouldn’t be fighting Joshua anyway.”
Heavyweight boxing. Big bucks, big business. And complicated.