Eddie Hearn believes that the Oleksandr Usyk – Anthony Joshua rematch will take place in May.
The Brit’s promoter told Boxing Social he is meeting Usyk’s promoter Alex Krassyuk this week to plan a date and venue for the fight.
‘AJ’ lost his WBA, IBF and WBO titles to the former undisputed cruiserweight champion at Tottenham Hotspur stadium last September. At one stage it appeared Joshua may step aside allowing Usyk and Tyson Fury to fight for the undisputed title. Talks involving all parties fell through however and now ‘The Gypsy King’ will make a mandatory defence of his WBC title against Dillian Whyte.
Andi Purewal asked Hearn how Joshua now feels about the situation being resolved and that a fight against Usyk can go ahead.
“Probably quite happy, that he gets to fight Usyk because that’s all he wanted to do all along,” Hearn answered.
“I went to him on several occasions to talk to him about this other deal. None of those times he was receptive, he didn’t want to do it. But I felt particularly that there might be a good opportunity and a good plan behind it, but it all fell apart and we can now just focus on Oleksandr Usyk which from day one is the option he preferred.”
Click here to watch the rest of Boxing Social’s interview where Hearn discusses Conor Benn v Chris Eubank Jr, the Fury-Whyte purse bids and more.