Eddie Hearn, promoter of former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, does not believe the words of WBC titleholder Tyson Fury, who said he would fight AJ for free if he beats Oleksandr Usik in a rematch.
World heavyweight champion Fury has continued to flip-flop on the possibility of coming back to boxing for a fight with Joshua, and has recently claimed he would only do it if it weren’t PPV
Eddie Hearn believes Tyson Fury is a “genius” for his contradicting views on his fight with Anthony Joshua, because nobody ever questions him.
The latest development in Fury’s flip-flopping on a return to professional boxing is that he has insisted he will fight Joshua only if the fight is done for minimal profit, in the UK and on free-to-air TV. After filling up Wembley with 94,000 fans earlier this year, Fury claims he wants another major event at the national stadium, and wants as many fans as possible in the UK to be able to watch.
That proclamation came just weeks after he claimed he would only fight again if he were paid £500million, or as he refers to it “half-a-billy”. And the Matchroom Boxing boss believes his latest offer to face Joshua is a fantastic move in terms of his image, with most casual fans taking him at his word.
“I can definitely see Tyson Fury fighting [for free],” Hearn joked during an appearance on The DAZN Boxing Show. “He’s a genius, Tyson Fury, because no-one ever questions what he says. On one hand he’s just said that you’ve got to pay him £500million, then the next sentence he says he’ll fight AJ for free on non-pay-per-view with all the attendance going elsewhere. The only way that Tyson Fury is going to fight again is for a bucket-load of money.
“Tyson Fury will go to Timbuktu or Mars for a bucket-load of money, so it doesn’t really matter what he says about free tickets and stuff like that. That’s all great stuff that a man who doesn’t quite have the mind to be able to say ‘what is this guy talking about?’ Go ‘that is amazing, Tyson Fury wants to fight for free, what a guy.”
However, Hearn understands the realistic likelihood is that Fury vs Joshua will happen when the right offer is made. And he isn’t sure that the world champion, who has held on to his WBC belt despite claiming to be retired, will ever come back in Usyk is to beat Joshua.
“Now, anyone with a brain cell knows that Tyson Fury will only fight again if he’s given a shed-load of money,” Hearn continued. “The Usyk fight will not generate the same type of money as the AJ fight would. I would never, ever let one of my fighters go in and fight for free, I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation.
“This would be the biggest fight, but listen, AJ’s got to go in and take care of business against Usyk, which is a very tough task. But if and when he does, Tyson Fury against Anthony Joshua is not ‘the biggest fight in boxing’, it’s the biggest fight ever in the history of the sport.
“And I will make sure that we do the right job, as we have done since he turned professional, for Anthony Joshua. By the way, Tyson Fury will want to milk every dollar out of that fight that is available.”