Eddie Hearn hints Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury will be announced in DAYS as he laughs off Gypsy King’s ’12 pints’ rant
EDDIE HEARN has laughed off Tyson Fury’s sulk over the delay in announcing his Anthony Joshua showdown and insisted we are days away from huge news.
The WBC Gypsy King claimed on Thursday that he had swapped training for boozing and had given up the idea of an undisputed decider with AJ this summer.
But Hearn, who claims he only saw 45 seconds of the rambling chat in which Fury claimed to be necking 12 pints a day and instead considering a trilogy fight with Deontay Wilder, says the deal is almost done.
Hearn said: “Although they are going to put pen to paper, the interview was a bit disappointing because I want to hear him say ‘The only fight I’m interested in is Anthony Joshua’.
“I don’t know whether he was in a bad mood or pulling everyone’s plonker. What I do know is everyone has put a lot of work into this deal and he is on board.
“Last week he said he would never ever fight Deontay Wilder again and now he says he might fight him next, so we are just focused on what we are doing and we are on the verge of giving everyone some great news.
“I think we are days away – I know I have said that two and five weeks ago – but we are days away from giving everyone some good news.
“AJ just wants to be undisputed. He’s so driven and what I saw last night – in the minute I watched – I didn’t feel the energy from Tyson Fury.
“I want him to get his mojo back and start concentrating on what is a life-changing moment for our sport – the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world between two Brits.”
Because AJ boxed in Saudi Arabia in 2019, Fury wrestled for the WWE there the same year and the time difference for UK pay-per-view buyers is only three hours, the controversial state was leading the pack to host.
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But the Matchroom boss is now juggling up to seven offers and American has two candidates – which could leave Brit fans a nightmare start time of around 5am.
He said: “Saudi 100 per cent want to hold the fight but they are only one of six or seven who we have whittled it down to, who want to hold the fight and will continue talks with.
“America has opened up as an option, we are in talks with the Dallas Cowboys about having 70,000 for Canelo vs Billy Joe Saunders on May 1.
“And I believe Las Vegas is close to opening up to 50 per cent capacity, if they have 100 per cent by July they could be a player and they will need something monstrous to bring people back.”
Hearn has given himself and Fury’s Top Rank team one month to agree on a venue, if they are to get a deal done in time for an early July clash.
He said: “I would say in the next 30 days. That’s kind of, the next 28 days is the thought process of both teams.
“If we are going to deliver this fight late June, early July at the latest, we need to get that moving.
“That’s why we took the decision to start those conversations a couple of weeks ago, so we have a number of phone calls to move forward with the finalising of site offers.”
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Following a Panorama investigation into Tyson Fury’s advisor Daniel Kinahan, an alleged Irish crime boss, Sky Sports and BT held serious meetings about their future involvement in the sport and the £200m bout.
But Hearn has confirmed Sky will be showing the fight, thanks to their exclusive deal with Watford’s 32-year-old WBA, IBF and WBO king.
“There have been no meetings or discussions,” he said.
“Sky will be broadcasting the fight.
“AJ is the one with the exclusive deal in the UK but the general feeling among the broadcasters is there is no pushback on duel airing of the broadcast and I do believe that is what will happen.”