In a clear sign of the times, on a night when Oleksandr Usyk would claim the undisputed heavyweight championship for a second time with a knockout of Daniel Dubois at London’s Wembley Stadium, Eddie Hearn could be found Saturday in Frisco, Texas, getting sucked into the conversation about a very different kind of heavyweight extravaganza.
Hearn was on hand at The Ford Center at The Star – better known as the Dallas Cowboys’ headquarters and training facility but also the setting for a Matchroom card featuring Hearn fighters Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and Diego Pacheco in main and co-main attractions, respectively.
In between Pacheco’s clinical points win over Trevor McCumby and the start of Rodriguez’s frog boil of Phumelele Cafu, Hearn visited with reporter Chris Mannix on DAZN's broadcast to discuss a variety of subjects, including the general greatness of Usyk.
“Firstly, Usyk, pound-for-pound No. 1, unquestionable,” Hearn said. “As great as Terence [Crawford] is – and maybe ‘Bam’ makes the case for No. 2 tonight, [Nayoa] Inoue – Usyk is streets ahead. Don't forget, he picked up a lot of those cruiserweight world championships in people's backyards on the way to undisputed. Two-time undisputed heavyweight world champion. He's beaten [Anthony Joshua] twice. He's beaten [Tyson] Fury twice. He's beaten Dubois twice. What more is there to do?”
With Usyk having decisively cleared out the heavyweight division of current contenders, the most compelling matchups to be made in the division now are arguably among the vanquished – and, loathe as Hearn was to admit it, a possible rubber-necker of a spectacle involving Joshua, the highest-profile heavyweight under his banner.
“You’ve got Tyson Fury calling out Usyk pre-fight. I’m sure AJ would love Usyk. But let's be honest: Do the fans want to see those trilogies? No, they want to see AJ against Tyson Fury – but maybe with a little twist in the middle, because this circus with Jake Paul seems to be gaining momentum.”
Under the big top would be Joshua facing Paul, the YouTuber-come-pseudo-contender who recently trashed Joshua’s chin and called out the former unified champion. Orchestrating the matchup is ringleader Turki Alalshikh, who recently appeared on “Tha Boxing Voice” podcast and announced that Paul had accepted a proposal for the fight offering him just a 1 percent purse split.
“Don't ask me how. Don't ask me why,” Hearn said with a grin. “But if people want Anthony Joshua to evaporate the career of Jake Paul in one night, maybe we make it happen.”
Hearn said he spoke to Alalshikh shortly after the Saudi Arabia financier’s meeting with Paul on the subject, and – seemingly baffling even himself – claimed he is open to Joshua-Paul.
“You know, obviously it'll be up to AJ and myself what AJ does, and [Most Valuable Promotions CEO] Nakisa [Bidarian] and Jake, what they do – but also the power of Turki Alalshikh bringing it together, making it a mega-event. We're up for it. You know, it's not a fight we targeted. It's not a fight we anticipated. But as I said, if it's there and it's open and it's a running-up fight before Tyson Fury, why not?”
Would it be possible for another to jump the now-mind-boggling queue of hopefuls in line for a cash-cow Jake Paul fight? As mentioned, Usyk doesn’t have an obvious next move, and – would you look at that – guess who was front and center at Wembley on Saturday to stare down the new undisputed heavyweight champ. You have to give Paul credit for one thing: He doesn’t bother aiming low.
Still, Joshua-Paul seems a more likely pairing, and at any rate is further down the road toward reality – even if it comes off as something far closer to reality TV.
“It probably breaks the internet,” Hearn said. “It breaks the platform. It probably delivers the biggest numbers of any fight we've ever seen, and that's the crazy world we live in. For me, I don't expect it to be competitive, but do you want to see Jake Paul flattened? There you go. It's on a plate right in front of you.”
Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.
