Eddie Hearn claims that all it will take is one phone call and Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua could be made in a matter of minutes – but the promoter promised that conversations to match Joshua with either Martin Bakole or Deontay Wilder, contrary to reports on social media, have not taken place.
“The social media rumor mill is always 10 per cent true,” Hearn said on the Matchroom Boxing Podcast. “The latest one, which someone sent me, is that Martin Bakole vs. Anthony Joshua is done, signed. I mean, we have not had one conversation about that fight. I’m not ruling it out, by the way, but it hasn’t even been a conversation, so I don’t know where that came from. Another one I saw: Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder is done for June 7. Not had one conversation about that fight.”
Joshua was stopped by Daniel Dubois in September last year, triggering seemingly endless suggestions about the former heavyweight champion’s future. There was talk of a rematch with Dubois but the preference, from Team Joshua, was that long elusive showdown with Tyson Fury. Then Fury announced his retirement to end speculation, at least momentarily. Hearn continues to doubt that Fury will stay retired and is not giving up hope – particularly with Joshua back in training.
“I spoke to ‘AJ’ yesterday for the first time in a few weeks,” Hearn said. “He’s in real good spirits. He’s buzzing… and back in the swing of training. It’s my thoughts that we will meet in the next week or so and move forward. His excellency [Turki Alalshikh] does like the Deontay Wilder fight. I think he’ll be watching extremely closely on February 22 for [Daniel] Dubois against [Joseph] Parker and then see what happens with Mr [Tyson] Fury.
“On Tyson Fury, they could phone us today and we could make the fight today. Obviously he’s retired at the moment and if he actually is, good luck to him. But that fight could get made with one phone call. We’ll see.”
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