Bob Arum has given his view on why talks for a fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua fell through – and Arum is placing the blame firmly on the door of Eddie Hearn.
When asked by Boxing Social why discussions broke down, the Top Rank boss said he believed Joshua genuinely wanted to face Fury, but that Hearn intentionally stalled and slowed down the negotiation process as a means to get his man out of the fight.
“Two words – Eddie Hearn. I think Joshua wanted the fight; Hearn just slow played it.”
“Once they agreed on a 60/40 split, how hard is it to put the fight together? But if you keep exchanging drafts and playing the game and you’re not aggressively trying to make the fight, the fight won’t happen.”
Initial talks between the two camps were seemingly positive, however a couple of weeks ago it became clear issues had arisen and that the hopes of British fight fans had once again been dashed.
And Arum, speaking at the press conference for Fury vs Dereck Chisora, went on to say that he felt Hearn intentionally sabotaged the negotiations as the Matchroom boss did not have confidence that Joshua was ready for a showdown with Fury.
“Again, I don’t blame Joshua, I blame Eddie Hearn”
“Why did he do that? Because he didn’t feel that Joshua – coming off the two defeats to Usyk and having lost three of his last five fights – was in any condition to fight Tyson Fury.”
“He figured he’d take a pass and wait to make the fight down the road.”
Whatever the reason and whoever’s to blame, it will matter little to the public, who at this stage will be beginning to wonder whether they’ll ever see the defining heavyweight fight of this generation.