Hearn asks the WBA and WBO to both recognize Povetkin as mandatory so Joshua can fulfill two mandatory obligations with one fight. The WBA and WBO say yes.
Hearn asks the WBA and WBO to delay the mandatory while Hearn pretends to want a unification bout with the WBC champion. The WBC champion unexpectedly accepts Hearn's offer, Hearn sends a vague contract with missing information and the WBC champion says he will sign that week.
As soon as the WBC champion says he will sign, Hearn has the WBA demand a date for the mandatory so he has an excuse to pull the unification offer. Nobody in their right mind believes the WBA, known for having four champions in every division, would strip Joshua for fighting a unification, but it gives Hearn the plausible deniability he needs to fool the UK trolls.
Hearn then tells the WBO not to count Povetkin as a mandatory defense, even though he's rated #1 in the WBO and had been publicly confirmed as WBO mandatory, in hopes that he can use a later WBO mandatory to delay an IBF mandatory by keeping the WBO ahead in the rotation.
The IBF sees through the ruse and refuses to get behind the WBO in line after the WBO tried to pull a fast one.
So we now have this situation where Hearn pretends he is helpless as the IBF and WBO mandatories are both due, even though it's a situation he purposely created when he asked the WBO to no longer recognize Povetkin as a mandatory defense.
Hearn asks the WBA and WBO to delay the mandatory while Hearn pretends to want a unification bout with the WBC champion. The WBC champion unexpectedly accepts Hearn's offer, Hearn sends a vague contract with missing information and the WBC champion says he will sign that week.
As soon as the WBC champion says he will sign, Hearn has the WBA demand a date for the mandatory so he has an excuse to pull the unification offer. Nobody in their right mind believes the WBA, known for having four champions in every division, would strip Joshua for fighting a unification, but it gives Hearn the plausible deniability he needs to fool the UK trolls.
Hearn then tells the WBO not to count Povetkin as a mandatory defense, even though he's rated #1 in the WBO and had been publicly confirmed as WBO mandatory, in hopes that he can use a later WBO mandatory to delay an IBF mandatory by keeping the WBO ahead in the rotation.
The IBF sees through the ruse and refuses to get behind the WBO in line after the WBO tried to pull a fast one.
So we now have this situation where Hearn pretends he is helpless as the IBF and WBO mandatories are both due, even though it's a situation he purposely created when he asked the WBO to no longer recognize Povetkin as a mandatory defense.
Comment