Promoter Eddie Hearn believes a fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson will be a “massive” one, even if Tyson loses his rematch with undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk on December 21st. Eddie feels a Joshua-Fury fight can still happen, even if Fury eats another loss against Usyk.
According to Hearn, Fury would decide whether to continue his career and face Joshua after a second defeat against Usyk. With the money still on the table for Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) to scoop up, it’s difficult to see him turning it down.
The Post-Loss Cash Grab?
The Fury-Joshua fight pressing ahead at that point would be viewed as a cash-grab by people, and many would turn up their noses ordering it on PPV without Fury redeeming himself in some way by beating one of the top heavyweights, like Daniel Dubois.
Unfortunately, that seems totally unrealistic because Dubois is too young, powerful, and dangerous for Fury, who turns 36 on August 12th and looks far older than his age.
A second defeat for the Gyspy King against Oleksandr would result in Fury’s popularity likely nosediving worldwide, but not in the UK, where the fans stick by their aging fighters.
Hearn needs to consider what could happen to Joshua if he pulls the trigger on the Dubois fight on September 21st because a match-up could be secure with AJ getting cooked by the young talent.
Although Hearn doesn’t want to admit it, there’s a very real possibility that Joshua and Fury will be beaten in their next fights, which would make a clash between them a glorified old timer’s type of fight. Does Hearn and Joshua want to stoop to that level of fighting Fury with both coming off losses? Are they that needy?
Hearn Still Hopeful
“No, I think we will. It will be up to Tyson Fury,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to iFL TV when asked if the Fury vs. Anthony Joshua will never happen if Tyson loses his December 21st rematch against Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury’s popularity will have sunk too far for a fight between him and Joshua to interest fans outside of the UK if he’s beaten in the rematch with Usyk.
There likely won’t be any saving of Fury next time. Will Joshua and Hearn want any part of a fight against Fury if he gets knocked out by Usyk?
“If he wins that, obviously, he’s going to want to fight the winner of Usyk-Fury for undisputed,” said Hearn about his plans for Joshua if he wins his September 21st fight at Wembley stadium.
“Now, win or lose for Fury, AJ can still fight Fury in a massive fight, but a lot of it’s going to be down to Tyson and how long he wants to go for because he’s still quite young [nearing 36], but does he want to fight if he gets beat by Usyk [again],” said Hearn.
Eddie needs to see the big picture because there’s an excellent chance that both Joshua and Fury will lose their next fights, making their “massive fight” the equivalent of a geriatric exhibition. Fans, at least the ones outside of the UK, ain’t going to want to pay to see that.
“Does he want to jack it in? Does he want to come back and fight [Joshua]? We’re [AJ] alright,” said Hearn. “We know we’re carrying on certainly next year and see what happens beyond. We want a plan. We don’t like having one fight and no plan.”
Hearn talks about a plan for Joshua, but it seems likely that he’ll be attempting to pick up the pieces of AJ’s career by putting him back into another rebuilding phase after he loses to Dubois on September 21st.
“So, we’re already talking about what is next should we come through with victory in September. AJ-Usyk, if he [Joshua] wins in September,” said Hearn when asked what is the second biggest fight after Fury-Joshua.
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