DAZN CEO Joe Markowski has revealed no decision has been made as of yet on whether or not the Matchroom show scheduled for the 02 Arena on August 12th go ahead.
The card was plunged into huge jeopardy yesterday after news broke that Dillian Whyte had returned an adverse finding in a VADA test subsequently his rematch with Anthony Joshua was scrapped.
There is believed to be a desire from Joshua’s team to draft in a replacement opponent and keep the show alive, however there has been no news on this front.
Speaking to IFL TV, Markowski admitted there would be no clarity on a potential replacement opponent for Joshua, or even if the show would happen at all or a date change, until early next week.
“I feel for Eddie, and I feel for ‘AJ’ more than anyone else, but it was the right decision to cancel the event. We’re in discussions with Matchroom and we’ll see what happens. I don’t think anything will get announced until early next week.
This has all played out in the last 24 hours, so we need to get into lots of detail and I think early next week there will be an announcement on that [on whether the show goes ahead.]
Completely depends [if it’s PPV] on opponent, date, all of this needs to be discussed – if it goes ahead next weekend we’ll have to wait and see.”
There are two other heavyweight fights on the card, meaning Flip Hrgovic, Demsey McKean, Derek Chisora and Gerald Washington all could potentially be the new opponent for Joshua.
However, with less than a week until fight night, promoter Eddie Hearn will need to move fast if the show is to go on.