Livescore
Anthony Joshua’s ring return is being targeted for the summer, the former unified heavyweight champion’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, confirmed this week to Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show.”
“AJ is looking to fight twice this year,” Hearn told Uncrowned. “First one in the summer, June, whenever that’s going to be, and then again at the end of the year.”
Although rumors have swirled on social media about Joshua facing several high-profile opponents next, Hearn insisted that there have been zero negotiations thus far for potential fights.
“When I say we refuted it, the media or Twitter or whatever it was reported that the [Martin] Bakole [against Joshua] fight was signed and agreed and the [Deontay] Wilder [against Joshua] fight was signed and agreed,” Hearn said. “We’ve not had one conversation yet regarding Anthony’s next opponent. Those conversations will probably begin after next week or in Riyadh [ahead of the Feb. 22 card].”
Although discussions haven’t yet taken place for Joshua to face either Wilder or Bakole, those are two fights Hearn believes are possible for the future. A Joshua vs. Wilder fight was the biggest in the heavyweight division — and in all of boxing — for many years until Joshua’s shocking loss to Andy Ruiz and Wilder’s recent career downturn. Now, it’s perhaps not a fight many will care for.
“The Wilder fight, I get. It was definitely not a fight that we ever considered after [Wilder’s] defeats,” Hearn said. “If he comes back with a win in March or whenever he fights [next], maybe. Bakole in Africa, I think, is an incredible event. We’re well-placed. AJ is — to the disappointment of many people — still the money of the heavyweight division, and we can really fight whoever we want, but AJ will do what he’s always done in his career, which is take the biggest of challenges.”
When Tyson Fury announced his retirement from the sport in January for seemingly the umpteenth time, Hearn was one of many figures in boxing who doubted the legitimacy of the retirement.
The British promoter is, however, concerned about how long Fury’s decision will last and what it could mean for a potential Fury vs. Joshua fight, which has long been one of boxing’s most-wanted bouts.
“The problem is with Tyson is, if he doesn’t stay in the gym, if he doesn’t keep ticking over — like all of a sudden, you know how the year goes,” Hearn said. “It’s about to turn into March. March becomes June, June becomes September — [then] the year is over for a fighter. I don’t think AJ is going to be fighting [much longer]. I mean, how many fights has AJ got left? Two? Three? It’s around that kind of number.”
Hearn believes it’s possible that Joshua could hang up his gloves at the end of 2025 if he boxes twice this year — meaning, if a Fury fight doesn’t happen in 2025, it may not occur at all.
“If Fury doesn’t come out of retirement soon,” Hearn said, “of course that fight is not going to happen next. Is it Bakole [next for Joshua]? Is it Wilder? Is it the [Daniel] Dubois [vs. Joseph] Parker winner? Is it the [Agit] Kabayel [vs. Zhilei] Zhang winner? I mean, it honestly could be anyone.”
“He’s just — the mojo is back, he’s back in camp. And he will be watching the [Dubois vs. Parker] fight, the world heavyweight championship,” Hearn continued. “In his mind, he wants to fight Daniel Dubois. Don’t forget, he’s a fighter. You never get a fighter look at the Dubois rematch and go, ‘I won’t be taking that.’ They always want to avenge defeat, and it comes with the world heavyweight championship.”
Joshua and Dubois were initially set to have an immediate rematch, however Joshua declined the opportunity as he wouldn’t have be ready for a proposed Feb. 22 date.
Instead, New Zealand’s Parker — who Joshua holds a win over — steps in to face Dubois.
Usyk, Taylor and more
Another man who appears ready to retire in the next 12 months is the current unified heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk. Usyk told Sky Sports this past week that he plans to box twice more before he hangs up the gloves, with the first fight coming against the Dubois vs. Parker winner. He declined to clarify who the second opponent could be, but also floated the possibility of a cross-sport match with UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira in a subsequent interview.
“Usyk’s done it all,” Hearn said. “Undisputed at cruiserweight, undisputed at heavyweight. He’s going to want a lot of money to fight, and I’m not sure what that fight looks like to deliver him the kind of money that he may need to fight again. The Dubois-Parker winner, of course, provides another undisputed fight. I love the Jai Opetaia fight, especially if he can become undisputed at cruiserweight, because the story is fantastic.”
Australia’s IBF cruiserweight champion Opetaia is considered by some to be the toughest available challenge for Usyk. Opetaia, however, has not necessarily built the résumé or accomplishments to move up to heavyweight and walk straight into a Usyk fight, and still needs at least a win over unified cruiserweight champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez first.
On the women’s side of the game, Hearn told Uncrowned that talks are ongoing with Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions to make a trilogy contest between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano.
“I’ve actually been having some pleasant conversations with Nakisa [Bidarian] and MVP about a number of [things], but [mainly] around [Taylor vs. Serrano 3],” Hearn said. “It just makes so much sense, and the opportunity bouncing off the platform and the numbers that it did last time [on Netflix], there’s a very good chance that we see that fight next. I think fight fans deserve it, I think Amanda Serrano deserves it. She’s given us two epic fights against Katie Taylor, both fights were razor-thin decisions. Katie deserves everything. So the talks continue, we’ll have to see. But I’m confident you see that next.”
Ireland’s Taylor has long dreamed of fighting at her country’s historic Croke Park venue, which hasn’t hosted a fight in more than 50 years. The last boxing event at Dublin’s 80,000-capacity stadium was Muhammad Ali’s 11th-round TKO win over Alvin Lewis in 1972.
There were preliminary conversations about Taylor fighting at Croke Park in 2023, but Hearn’s Matchroom decided against staging a show at the stadium due to the costs involved with the event and instead chose the 3Arena for Taylor’s Ireland homecoming.
The costs affiliated with booking Croke Park seem to be an issue once again.
“The truth is to hire Croke Park, they want twice as much money than to hire Wembley Stadium — the national stadium in London,” Hearn said. “When as well it’s for one of their own, the absolute hero. So we were never asking for funding or for government help, we were just asking the stadium to have a price point alongside the national stadium in London of Wembley Stadium, where we’ve staged many and many a fight, but you can’t have conversations with these people because they just they don’t want boxing. They look down their nose at the sport.”
“[The government] look at an NFL event, and think, ‘Right, why don’t we spend 15 times more to bring an American sport to Dublin rather than one of our greatest-ever athletes in an event that will go down as the greatest event in the history of Irish sport or boxing?’ But I get it as well — look, you’re talking about the NFL, [which] does drive huge tourism to the region and everything. There’s a mathematical equation behind every government decision like that, but the reality is no one ever fights for boxing [at the government level].”
Lightweight chaos
On Friday night in New York, Keyshawn Davis goes for his first world title against WBO lightweight champion Denys Berinchyk. Davis, who had his early fights under Hearn’s promotion, has an infamous rivalry with one of Hearn’s lightweights, Andy Cruz.
Cruz went 4-0 over Davis in the amateur ranks and has been goading the American about it ever since, even referring to Davis as his “son.”
“Keyshawn’s a great fighter, he’s a great personality as well,” Hearn said. “He’ll beat Berinchyk handily.
“When I look at the options — tell me a better fight, tell me a greater narrative, tell me a better build-up, tell me a fight [with greater] history than Keyshawn against Andy Cruz, because Keyshawn is a competitor and [Davis] knows that they boxed four times in the amateurs and he could not lace Andy Cruz’s boots. Everyone says that the amateurs are the amateurs and the pros are [different], granted, [but it’s] still boxing.”
While Davis fights for a world title on Friday, Cruz isn’t too far behind him — despite having less than half the amount of professional fights. The Cuban Olympic gold medalist is ranked No. 1 in the world with the WBC, No. 3 with the IBF and the WBA, and No. 15 with the WBO.
“[Davis vs. Cruz] is a brilliant, brilliant fight between two tremendous young fighters, and all we’ve got to do is just keep getting Andy up the rankings, hopefully into a mandatory position for a world title,” Hearn said. “But I believe normally you duck Andy Cruz, right? I think Keyshawn’s got more about him than that. I think [Davis] will want to fight Andy Cruz, because otherwise, Andy Cruz will call Keyshawn Davis his son for the rest of his career.”
Davis vs. Cruz is a big bout, but there’s an even bigger matchup Hearn is eyeing at 135 pounds.
“When you look at the lightweight division, you know the king of the lightweight division, in my opinion, is Shakur Stevenson, right? The fight with him and Gervonta Davis is one of the great, great fights that has to happen,” he said. “[Stevenson] also has to get past Floyd Schofield next week [on Feb. 22], but all being well, that’s the fight we should make.”
Hearn has a three-fight plan for Stevenson, which begins next Saturday against the unbeaten contender Schofield. Should Stevenson emerge victorious, Hearn will look to match him with the WBC interim champion William Zepeda in the summer, and then end the year with a blockbuster showdown against “Tank” Davis. Davis vs. Stevenson is one of the biggest matchups available in American boxing.
Matchroom is staging a show Saturday at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena, which is headlined by the WBO interim super lightweight title clash between Jack Catterall and Arnold Barboza Jr. The WBO champion is Teofimo Lopez, who is in talks to face IBF champion Richardson Hitchins next in a unification bout.
“There’s all kind of talks about Teofimo Lopez [fighting] Richardson Hitchins [at] Alcatraz and all the kind of wild stuff,” Hearn said. “The reality is, all the business will take place next week in Riyadh. His Excellency doesn’t really do a lot of deals not face-to-face. Next week is going to be a week of very little sleep, a tremendous fight card, and a lot of fights and a lot of deals getting made as well. I think if we’re going to make Teofimo against Richardson Hitchins in a unification, that fight will get made next week.
“And if we’re going to do [Lopez vs.] Jack Catterall, that fight may get [made] next week. He has to face Barboza first, it’s a very good fight, but the winner of this fight on Saturday will be in a golden position at 140 pounds.”
Read the full article here
Discussion about this post