Hearn: AJ title fight in danger over virus
SPORTS promoter Barry Hearn has revealed this summer’s Anthony Joshua heavyweight title defence could be cancelled due to coronavirus.
The WBA (Super), WBO, IBO and IBF champion is due to fight Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev at the Tottenham Stadium on June 20.
Hearn, who also runs snooker, darts, golf, pool, fishing and bowling events under his Matchroom banner, has already seen tournaments fall by the wayside.
Snooker’s China Open has been scrapped, with darts and pool events postponed.
‘We know we are in the s***!’ admitted Hearn. ‘We’ve got a massive fight on June
20, Anthony Joshua facing Pulev, but we don’t know whether that will happen now.
‘You don’t want to cancel big events and where possible we will play them, but this is the equivalent of a world war.
‘In all my years of sport, I’ve never encountered these unprecedented circumstances. We’ve got 650 live events this year and we’ve already had to cancel a snooker tournament in China and have now been forced to cancel pool events in North America because the situation has escalated over there.
‘But we’ve got to be sensible and although livelihoods are at stake, you have to follow the guidelines.
‘People are still going to work, so I would ask the questions whether the whole country needs to be closed down and we suck it up.
‘The economy would be in tatters and it would be a bitter pill to swallow, but at the end of the day this is a serious virus and peoples’ lives are at stake.’
The cancellation of the bout would plunge a potential heavyweight unification British super-fight between Joshua and WBC champion Tyson Fury, who faces fresh questions over a failed drugs test in 2015, before the end of the year into doubt.
Former heavyweight champion David
Haye has warned Joshua to ditch his new-found caution because he will be expected to emulate Fury’s spectacular knockout of Deontay Wilder if his title defence goes ahead.
Haye, who won the WBA heavyweight title in 2009 after defeating Nikolai Valuev, said: ‘Joshua can outbox (Pulev) if he wants to but I don’t think the world wants that. The world wants to see the world heavyweight champion do what Fury did.
‘If Fury can do that to Wilder, Joshua should do something similar to Pulev. He can go out there and use his physicality, his punch power.’
Haye still expects a quick night’s work for Joshua. ‘I envisage two or three rounds at best, Joshua looking spectacular, looking like the old Joshua that everyone knows,’ he said.
‘Pulev is respected but shouldn’t cause the heavyweight champion of the world issues.’