Eddie Hearn Says Anthony Joshua Will Box Tyson Fury If Deontay Wilder Doesn’t Materialize

Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury may happen in December after all.

Recently, a Saudi official came out and said they were trying to make Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder on the same card. However, those fights have yet to come to fruition, and if they don’t, Hearn says they will be looking to make Fury vs. Joshua.

“No, no truth in that at all,” Hearn said (h/t BoxingScene). “He didn’t send a contract to us, 258 [Management], Anthony Joshua. What happened was George Warren sent us an email to say, ‘Look, we’d like to talk about the fight in September. Same terms as last time. We had some positive conversations. What do you think?’ I called him straight up and I said, ‘Look, we’re planning our fight in August and we’re planning on fighting Deontay Wilder in December.’

“It’s very difficult for me to – I mean, I spoke to AJ about it. He said, ‘Isn’t he fighting Jai Opetaia or Demsey McKean or Jon Jones?’ He’s been fighting three guys the last four days,” Hearn continued. “So, AJ said, ‘Look, I can’t put my trust in canceling my August and December fights to fight this guy in September, when we just don’t know. Like, do you trust him?’ I said, ‘I know they would like to discuss the fight. My job is to go through that process with George Warren and see the legitimacy of it.”

Although no contracts have been sent out as Tyson Fury claims, the plan for Anthony Joshua is to in fact box Dillian Whyte in August and then face Wilder in December. Yet, if the Wilder fight doesn’t happen, the plan is for Joshua-Fury to take place.

“Obviously, we see what happens in Saudi this week,” Hearn said. “They want the Deontay Wilder fight. AJ’s got that in his head. It’s a huge fight, huge money fight. And he’s got the fight in August, which will develop and ready him for that fight with Derrick James. So, that’s our plan and we’re not gonna deviate from that plan on the basis of some Instagram hope. But it’s also my job to go through the process, see how real that opportunity is. And if August and particularly the Deontay Wilder fight doesn’t materialize, absolutely he’ll fight Tyson Fury next.”

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