Promoter Eddie Hearn insists that a rematch with Daniel Dubois is the “#1 priority” for Anthony Joshua. He can easily make it happen by telling His Excellency Turki Alalshikh that’s the fight they want. It’s pretty obvious that there’s not going to be a rematch.
(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
Hearn is so transparent in his talk that he doesn’t want to come right out and say it because the backlash will be severe. It’ll show utter weakness if Joshua doesn’t take the rematch with Dubois, but if he does that, all the money from the Fury fight goes out the window.
Hearn and Joshua still have a fight remaining on the Riyadh Season deal, and they likely want to maximize it by making the mega-money clash against Fury.
A Dubois rematch won’t bring in the kind of gold bullion that a match against Fury would, and it doesn’t matter if Usyk beats him. It’s still a bigger fight. If this is all there is left for Joshua with His Excellency, of course, Hearn is going to get the maximum cash by insisting on the Fury match.
“I told him yesterday, ‘You have been one and three fights left.’ The phone went a bit quiet when I said that to him, but that’s the realization of where he’s at in his career. It’ll just be the biggest fights possible,” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing News about his conversation with Anthony Joshua after his loss to Daniel Dubois.
Joshua talks about having “Loads” of years left in his career, so Hearn telling him he’s only got one to three fights left probably didn’t go over well.
“AJ is going to want the biggest fights. He’s a fighter. His #1 priority is to rematch Daniel Dubois. If we go to His Excellency and say, ‘We want that rematch.’ That fight will happen, but we also have options within our arrangement. The rematch is one of our choices with His Excellency,” said Hearn.
They’re not going to make the Dubois rematch in a million years. Even if there wasn’t a Fury out there, Hearn isn’t crazy enough to pull the trigger on a rematch and watch Joshua get devoured by the apex predator Dubois. Joshua isn’t built to compete against this kind of monster.
“I believe if that was the choice that we were to make, I saw Daniel last night; that’s definitely a fight that is being discussed. But we got to talk with AJ to discuss the potential timings for his return. December 21st [Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk 2] is a big moment for us and a big moment for the heavyweight division. It’s just a case of whether we make a decision before that fight,” said Hearn.
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