Eddie Hearn says that he has a back-up date to stage Anthony Joshua’s fight with Kubrat Pulev in July if it cannot go ahead on June 20.
Earlier this week, Hearn’s Matchroom group scrapped all its UK dates in March and April due to the coronavirus pandemic. Shows in Newcastle and Doncaster have been pushed back to June, while the March 28 card planned for the O2 Arena in London has been cancelled, with the scheduled top of the bill of David Avanesyan v Josh Kelly likely to reappear on one of Matchroom’s pay-per-view cards.
For now, the two pay-per-view bills for May as well as Joshua-Pulev, which is due to take place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 20.
While it is far from clear whether it will be safe to restart sporting events by June 20 and added problem is whether Tottenham Hotspur will need the stadium themselves.
The Premier League season has been suspended, but with the announcement on Tuesday that the European Football Championships have been moved back from this year to 2021, it open ups the possibility to restart the domestic season.
“At the moment, [it is] still in place,” Hearn told Sky Sports News. “Obviously with the news of the Euros being cancelled and the possible extension of the Premier League season, Spurs may need that stadium in June. We do have an option to run that fight in July as well at the same stadium.”
Hearn said that he had not considered switching the fight away from Britain.
“A requirement for Anthony in this next fight was to box in the UK,” Hearn said. “June 20 is a long way time away still in our plans. We have been speaking to Tottenham to make sure we are all still on the same page, we have the same strategy moving forward. Obviously the Premier League decision will play a big part in many sports’ plans to put new dates in place.
“We hope June 20 can remain the date.”
Hearn said that a decision would be made on May events after the British Boxing Board of Control re-evaluates the situation next month. He also said that staging events behind closed doors had not been possible, because the Board could not guarantee correct medical oversight.
“Events in May are things that have to be considered,” Hearn said. “At the moment they remain as we wait for further news and see how this keeps evolving and takes us.
“Everything now is a case-by-case situation, a day by day situation, trying to think on your feet. For a long time we were trying to keep shows intact, we had made various enquiries and reservations with film studios and TV studios to try and keep these fights on behind closed doors. He also criticised Prime Minister Boris Johnson for being unclear in his statements on Monday.
“The biggest concern for us is I think Boris’s statements yesterday were a little bit unclear in terms of the number of people allowed at mass gatherings,” Hearn said. “What the British Boxing Board of Control have said, which makes any event a complete no-no is that we are not sure that the right doctors and medics can be provided at these events and more so, if there was an injury at these events, we don’t know that they could receive the right medical attention.
“As soon as that comes into play, it is not even up for consideration.”
Hearn said he was concerned for boxers who had trained for bouts, who will not be getting paid, but said that the heath crisis trumps those considerations.
“These fighters have been training for a long time, they get paid when they fight,” Hearn said. “Now we have a situation that there are much more important things to think about and sport comes second place to that now.
“It is heartbreak for the sport and particularly the fighters, but we have got to put it into perspective, we have got to stay safe, stay healthy and we can resume once everything is back in order.
“The main thing to do is ensure that every fighter has a new date to work towards. The British Boxing Board of Control will make a decision in early April regarding the game moving forward.
“Right now, all of the fighters who have been due to box do have another date scheduled for the summer. We have got to make sure we have that in place and hopefully we can get back up and running as soon as possible.
“Every sport is going to get hit very hard.”