Eddie Hearn speaks out on the stunning unraveling of Fury-Joshua

Promoter says Usyk could be next for AJ instead

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said on Tuesday that throughout the months of negotiating an undisputed heavyweight title fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua he was assured by Fury’s camp that the arbitration case brought by former titlist Deontay Wilder against Fury seeking to uphold what be believed was a contractual right for a third bout with Fury would not be an issue.

But when arbitrator Daniel Weinstein, a retired judge with vast experience in boxing cases, ruled in Wilder’s favor on Monday it became a very serious issue and could mean that Joshua next will instead face Oleksandr Usyk in a long overdue mandatory defense this summer.

Weinstein ruled in his nine-page opinion that Fury, who knocked out Wilder in their February 2020 rematch of a previous draw, must face Wilder next by Sept. 15 unless they agree to a date extension. After the loss, Wilder invoked his contractual right to an immediate rematch but multiple dates were delayed, mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic, and Fury contended that the date by which it had to take place by eventually expired.

Weinstein didn’t buy it and sided with Wilder, putting the prospect of Fury-Joshua, which was being planned for Aug. 14 in Saudi Arabia for a record site fee of $155 million, in serious doubt.

Hearn, who spearheaded the site deal with the same Saudi Arabian group he did a deal with to bring Joshua’s rematch against Andy Ruiz Jr. to the country for $60 million in December 2019, was dumbfounded by the turn of events.

“Put the kids to bed, just settled down nice. Chilled Monday night and then the phone started blowing up,” Hearn said in a video released by his Matchroom Boxing. “Then (Top Rank’s) Bob Arum (Fury’s co-promoter) calls me, then all hell breaks loose. It was a shock to the system. This negotiation has been going on three, four months and we were always assured this (arbitration) wouldn’t be a problem.

“It was a strange decision by the arbitrator, to say the least. But that is (the Fury side’s) business. That’s their responsibility. We have to see now where they go with it. (Arum) was in complete and utter shock. I have never heard him so speechless. He has been bullish throughout this process. ‘This wouldn’t be a problem, this wouldn’t stand in the way of am Anthony Joshua-Tyson Fury fight.’ That’s quite frustrating because we’ve been working tirelessly to get this over the line. He was almost shell-shocked I think. And then once he’d calmed down, the move then was to speak to the other side and see if there’s a resolution. We can’t control that. We can’t be involved in that process.

“As far as I understand it Tyson Fury wants to fight Anthony Joshua. We have a deal to do so, Aug. 14 in Saudi Arabia. Spoke to our partners in Saudi Arabia. They weren’t best pleased either and I think the conversations are ongoing, but from our point of view we have to get our side in order, make sure we have our own plans and hopefully they can resolve the issue and we can move forward with the Aug. 14 fight but over to them.”

‘Everything we were told from the get-go is that this arbitration issue wouldn’t be a problem. Obviously it is a problem now.’ — Eddie Hearn

Hearn said he hopes they can find a resolution in which Fury and Wilder make a deal for Wilder to step aside but Hearn was unsure what would happen.

“We’ve got a fantastic deal in place for (Fury and Joshua) for a legacy fight, for a huge amount of money, the undisputed world championship, which is what both guys wanted,” Hearn said. “So I hope. But hopeful? I don’t know. As I said, everything we were told from the get-go is that this arbitration issue wouldn’t be a problem. Obviously it is a problem now. We have to think on our feet, to act accordingly. We still hope the fight can go ahead but, really, that’s completely out of our hands.”

Hearn said when he spoke to Joshua about the situation on Monday night and that he took it well, noting that he has dealt with curveballs thrown at him ahead of other fights, such as when Jarrell Miller fell out on three weeks’ notice after failing multiple drug tests and was replaced by Ruiz and when Kubrat Pulev suffered an injury the first time they were supposed to fight and was replaced by Carlos Takam on short notice.

“He was OK. I guess he’s been up and down during this process like we all have,” Hearn said. “He just said to me, ‘Go and do your work, you’re the man to take care of it, over to you. I’ll be in the gym. Let me know.’ If (Fury’s) hands are tied we have to look elsewhere.”

That would likely mean a summer fight with WBO mandatory challenger Usyk, the undefeated former undisputed cruiserweight champion.

“I have been focusing on plan A,” Hearn said. “The only fight we had our mind on was Tyson Fury. We hope that that fight can still take place on Aug. 14. The game changed (Monday) night where we have to have a plan B in place, and probably a plan C as well. We have a couple of different options. Of course, the one that springs to mind immediately is the WBO mandatory of Oleksandr Usyk.

“They have been quite patient and I think really we are in a situation now where if Team Fury don’t get themselves together, get their act together, by the end of this week, we will have no option but to look for an alternative fight. AJ wants to fight this summer. Oleksandr Usyk is the mandatory. We have two or three other options as well. In an ideal world, if the right deal could be done, to maintain those belts and to keep the Fury fight alive for probably December, but for the undisputed as well.”

Hearn, who used to co-promote Usyk with Krassyuk, said he has spoken to Krassyuk about the situation.

“I said look, Team Fury are trying to solve the issue. If they don’t, there’s a very good chance we could be fighting you,” Hearn said. “So if we are all sensible, let’s move forward, let’s try and look at the options to get that locked in. Again, we are in a situation where we just don’t know how likely it is to get a full venue for August in the U.K. That was one of the reasons it was ruled out for the Fury fight -- we couldn’t get the confirmation from Wembley (Stadium) and other venues that we would be allowed full capacity.”

Whether the Fury-Joshua fight can be saved or Joshua fights Usyk or perhaps somebody else, Hearn said time is of the essence and he wants it wrapped up whichever way it goes this week.

“We can’t wait around,” Hearn said. “We have a deal in place with Tyson Fury. We provided an unbelievable opportunity to him. We were told by his team, Bob Arum, the arbitration wouldn’t be an issue. We could move forward with this fight. They were wrong. That’s on them.

“That’s their responsibility. That’s now their problem. We hope they can solve that problem, but we have to look after ourselves and Anthony Joshua.”

Hearn photo: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing