Matchroom CEO Eddie Hearn has named who he sees as ‘the best heavyweight in the world’ right now – and it isn’t one of his own charges.
Hearn has often come out to say his own man Anthony Joshua has the best resume in sport – and he did have an argument following Joshua’s wins over the likes of Alexander Povetkin, Joe Parker, Wladimir Klitschko, Dillian Whyte, and several others.
His upset loss to Andy Ruiz Jr – the rematch of which the Mexican has recently discredited – and back-to-back defeats to unified champion Oleksandr Usyk have somewhat taken the shine off his ledger for now, however.
Speaking to Seconds Out, Hearn was sharing his frustration with Tyson Fury’s recent comments about who he wants to fight next.
“He said I’m not interested in Usyk. I’m not interested in Joshua, he’s a gym sweeper, I’m only interested in the big boys, so if you’re not interested in Usyk and Joshua, who on earth are you interested in? Is it YouTubers?”
Hearn then explained why he finds this difficult to swallow but did heap praise on Fury, calling him the best in the world.
“The disappointment for me is I love greatness. I love sport. I love seeing someone produce greatness in sport.
And [Fury] is the best heavyweight in the world at the moment.
I think he could beat Oleksandr Usyk, he could fight Anthony Joshua, and if he beats him he would go down as the best heavyweight of our generation. He’d have beat Klitschko, Wilder, Usyk and AJ, he’d be the undisputed heavyweight champion.”
Not many would argue with Hearn’s pick, but the boxing world very much needs to see those fights happen first.