Promoter Barry Hearn believes Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder’s recent broadcast deals prove they want nothing to do with fighting heavyweight king Anthony Joshua. Joshua primarily broadcasts his bouts with
Speaking to The Daily Mail recently, Hearn said the entire situation proves that neither Fury or Wilder want anything to do with the IBF, IBO, WBA, and WBO king (via Boxing Scene):
“Wilder rejecting this deal [from DAZN] shows what he is thinking. Luckily the boxing fans today are smart enough to see that he doesn’t want to get in the ring with Anthony Joshua. Nobody does and that’s the problem. He can say anything he wants but it’s obvious to everyone now that this is not coming from our side. Wilder has signed up with Showtime and that makes this fight so much harder to make,” Barry Hearn told Daily Mail.
“We made this offer to try and make it easier but there you go. It’s a shame because Eddie [Hearn] has been pushing so hard to make the Wilder-Joshua fight but it just isn’t there. Wilder has been offered $100 million but he thinks he can earn good money fighting lesser opponents and then build up the purse to fight Joshua later down the line. Fury is the same, he doesn’t want to know. We made him an offer and he turned us down. Neither of them actually want to fight Joshua.
“They are all signed up to different television networks and that is a real issue from the promotional side of things. I just can’t see how these fights happen. The problem is none of them want to get beat. No one is blinking. If they get beat everything is off the table. Even for Joshua. Fury is in the worst position because he doesn’t have a title so he has no pulling power and I think out of the three of them he is the most beatable.”
Last month, Fury came to an agreement with ESPN and Top Rank Boxing in the United States. He’ll make his network debut this summer in June. As for “The Bronze Bomber,” he turned down a broadcast deal with DAZN worth $100 million to remain with Showtime. Now, he’ll fight Dominic Breazeale on May 18th, defending his WBC heavyweight title.
Do you think a fight between Joshua and Fury or Wilder will ever happen?
