By Shaun Murphy-
Anthony Joshua’s promoter has said that his man accepted the surprise opportunity to face Tyson Fury in order to seize the chance and take the challenge, adding that money was not the motivation.
The heavyweight clash is expected to earn each fighter no less than £50m each, if not more.
Eddie Hearns, who has made a killing since promoting Joshua-once Britain’s most popular boxer- will certainly be excited by the pound notes that comes with a fight of this magnitude. He has staged two big lucrative fights for Joshua already in Saudi Arabia, that got his bank balance overflowing. The pay for this fight will be happy Xmas for the big talking promoter who has successfully talked Joshua up right from the start of his professional career.
This is probably the first time in Joshua’s career, that Hearns has been forced to admit that Fury is the best heavyweight in the world, after beating Wilder twice and knocking out Dillian Whyte. Her may does not need to promote this fight much, and not many fans will buy into the hype that he believes Joshua will beat Tyson Fury, though he may believe that, or seek to convince the public that he does.
Joshua, who is worth at least £100m already, doesn’t need any more money, and could retire into the sunset fulfilled as far as finances are concerned. But his pride and ego has taken a big knock. It needs a big fix. Berating an unbeaten confident champion like Tyson Fury will do the trick.
However, having lost back-to-back fights to Olegsander, and his undisputed belts gone, an opportunity to fight for a version of a world title fight against Tyson Fury is a dream come true.
Victory will present another chance to become world champion and fight for his other belts against Usyk, a lot sooner than previously thought. The Londoner would first need to beat Fury again since the world champion is always afforded the benefit of rematch in the contractual clause of a world title fight.
Joshua will be expected to be the looser against Fury, after a performance against Usyk that doesn’t make him look like one capable of beating Fury. Not many will give him a chance, but that could make him very dangerous indeed.
Styles make fights, and though Fury will be an overwhelming favourite to beat Joshua, the former world champion will be fighting a different person with a different approach which could be the key difference. Joshua cannot be ruled out completely from producing an upset in a fight this big which by all accounts will have him motivated.
The gypsy king is a superior boxer to Joshua, but does get stuck in sometimes when going hard on the offensive at close range, which could provide the big punching Londoner with his opportunity to get explosive in way that wasn’t possible against the slick Olegsander Usyk, who uses fast hands and quick movement to be quite elusive without getting too involved at close range,
Usyk, who is currently regarded as the best pound for pound boxer in the world was expected to face Fury next but was not prepared to return to the ring as early as December, and Fury’s team wanted their man back that soon.
Joshua put up improved performance against talented Usyk but fell short
Deserved Victory
Usyk’s victory against Joshua was deserved, but not by a big margin at all. It was a split decision, which could have gone Joshua’s way had the fight taken place in London. It was a lot closer than their first encounter nearly a year earlier, but Joshua wasn’t explosive enough. Usyk’s movement was too good for him, and the Ukranian stayed at range for most of the fight, pushing the bigger man off him anytime he came too close.
Hearns believes the fight is close to being formally finalised.
”The key terms are agreed. Obviously there’s broadcaster situation to sort out, which at the moment is all extremely positive so fingers crossed. We’re in a good place, he said.
‘It’s not what we expected, but this is the fight that AJ has wanted for so long and he wasn’t prepared to wait any longer. He felt that this might be his only opportunity to get the fight with Tyson Fury.
Challenge
‘I think My Fury has a great deal, but this one wasn’t really about the money for AJ, this was about the challenge and we accept the challenge.’
In response to the offer of a 60-40 split, followed by 50-50 in a potential rematch were true, Hearn said: ‘Yeah. As I said, we weren’t allowed to negotiate.
‘We were told unequivocally no movement. Take it or leave it. We were treated like the B Side going into the fight, whether that’s right or wrong doesn’t really matter because it came down to AJ wanting the fight.’
The fight is not signed just yet and Hearn maintains some doubts that it will be, although he is hopeful that we will see the giant British clash this year.
‘If they really want the fight, the fight will get made. He’s all in for the fight,’ said the Matchroom boss.
‘I always have my doubts when it comes to Tyson Fury, but everything I hear from George Warren I believe.
‘I think that they’re saying all the right things, they 100% want to make the fight, and if they do they’ll get it.’
“If this fight doesn’t happen, the buck stops with the fighters, not their management team, not their extended team, but them. Tyson Fury said ‘let’s do it’, Anthony Joshua said ‘let’s do it’, so if for any reason this fight doesn’t happen it falls on the shoes of the fighters.
“Now the realisation of it. If I’m in Anthony Joshua’s team I probably wouldn’t advise him to do it, it’s a great opportunity, but you’re coming off two losses, his head is all over the place.
“Before he boxed Usyk in Saudi Arabia, I said if Anthony Joshua loses, what is his motivation going to be? Because he doesn’t want to be a backing dancer. So what will it be to motivate him?
“Tyson Fury has to be the only fighter that motivates Anthony Joshua to make the decision to say ‘yes, let’s do this. This guy is the only person that motivates me to get my head right to get my confidence, get my drive to commit to training’.
“This is the motivation Anthony Joshua needs. Tyson Fury, if he’s true to his word, he’s done his job and put the offer out there, now we’ve got to wait and see how time tells its own story.
“If this fight happens, it’s a massive, massive fight that the public have wanted to see for so long and these fighters are probably the only two fighters at the moment that could box and be bigger than the belts.”