Eddie Hearn has revealed the one fight he would make in 2023 above all others.
The Matchroom head honcho has been in Abu Dhabi recently, having done a deal with the kingdom to host a number of ‘Champions Series’ fight nights there.
Hearn, 43, was in Saudi Arabia last month as he witnessed Anthony Joshua come up short in his rematch against Oleksandr Usyk.
The Brit took on the 35-year-old Ukrainian at the Jeddah Superdome, bidding to win back the WBA Super, IBF, IBO and WBO world titles he was relieved of by Usyk last September at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
But despite being given the fight on one of the judges’ inexplicable scorecards, Joshua lost a split decision and Usyk added the vacant Ring Magazine title – relinquished by WBC champion Tyson Fury – to his collection of hardware, having previously been the undisputed world champion at cruiserweight.
And his promoter Hearn has insisted that a fight between him and Fury is one that still very much whets the collective heavyweight whistle.
In an interview with Dubai Eye, when asked to name the one fight he would want to make next year, he replied:
“I think it would still be ‘AJ’ against Fury. I lose count of the number of people who stop me in the street and ask me when that fight is going to happen.
“I know ‘AJ’ lost to Usyk but it’s just a fight that the British public and the world public still wants to see.”
‘The Gypsy King’ called out the aforementioned Usyk for a showdown for all the marbles in the sport’s heavyweight division, requesting £500million to face his fellow undefeated man.
Bob Arum, who looks after Fury’s affairs Stateside, has said that discussions are at an advanced stage for the fight that he believes is “the biggest since Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier”, while Frank Warren of Queensberry, who looks after Fury in the UK and staged his April defence of the WBC title at Wembley Stadium in London in which he stopped number one contender Dillian Whyte inside six rounds, said that the purse split for the fight is practically agreed.
Hearn continued:
“I do believe that fight will happen one day, but the main thing now is to get ‘AJ’ active and [in] all those fights [against] Dillian Whyte, Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury.
“They’re the fights I want to see Anthony Joshua in in 2023 and there are certainly more great fights to make.”
Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) hinted that he wanted a quick return to the ring as he looks to get back to winning ways sooner rather than later.