Comments Thread For: Hearn: Many Options, But Joshua Wants To Box Back in UK

[daggum]

Well, we'll soon find out wont we? We'll see how his fight with Pulev turns out.. Will the UK fans really be behind him again or will they have given up on him after his KO loss and subpar redemption performance? I'm speaking from a general public standpoint. Fury doesn't draw with a subpar name and Wilder only sells a decent amount.

My guess is they'll still fill stadiums for the guy.. but I dont think the American public is interested in him.

so the american public isn't interested in fury, wilder, or joshua...yet wilder thinks he deserves 50-50 and 100 million for one joshua fight on ppv. there seems to be a disconnect between his brain and reality.

[bngsdad]

He better go back to the UK


That style he showed won't sell, fans nowadays want KOs especially with the UFC at the background.

[daggum]

He better go back to the UK


That style he showed won't sell, fans nowadays want KOs especially with the UFC at the background.

what's that based on though? wilder is the biggest ko artist around and his last 3 fights flopped.

[jikeccfc]

Uk agay fans deluded morons

the fools that follow agay in the uk are not clued up on boxing,they are clued up on lager ,jaeger bombs and shots of Sambuca but know nothing about boxing.they think the sun shines out of the gutless cowards arse and will be so moroned up on ale they will pay to watch or be robbed by ppv to watch the chicken**** fight the oldest swinger in town 80 year old pulev. then the dance off with usyk while they waltz for 12 rounds...agay cant lose on the cards in the uk ed ***** owns the judges and he gets a ref to stop in fighting ask joseph parker..,.the belts are now held to ransom by the worst heavyweight champion since nikolai valuev........

[nick_viking]

As a few posters have pointed out, AJ has options to build a legacy and those options don’t have to include the US, Wilder or Fury.

Before anyone gets on my back, I’m not an advocate of this, ideally I would want the Wilder fight (and actually that’s a fight I don’t see AJ winning). But looking at it from a commercial point of view the US is not vital to Joshua.

AJ could fight Pulev in the U.K., Usyk in Saudi then Whyte back in the U.K - and make a fortune.

Looking beyond this you have the likes of Zhang who is signed to Matchroom and could be used to break China, then you have Ajagba (might appeal in Nigeria) and then Dubois etc may be coming through and challenging for world titles.

What I’m getting at is that Joshua has lots of options and can build a legacy with fights that don’t involve Wilder or Fury. The spectacle involved in taking boxing to “new markets” such as Saudi, Nigeria or China will still appeal to sponsors and is a decent spin for Matchroom.

For what it’s worth I don’t think either Wilder or Joshua are scared of getting in the ring with each other, but AJ’s commercial value outside of the US doesn’t mean it’s a must for him to chase big fights there - especially not a fight as risky as Wilder. I think the Saudi experience has brought that home to Hearn (and AJ).

It’s a global economy now, and the US, though still massively important in terms of boxing legacy, is no longer the be all and end all commercially.

I do think the Wilder or Fury fights eventually happen, but realistically think 2022 looks about as early as either would take place. Hope I’m wrong!

[OldTerry]

Based on the number vs Ruiz, and a probably year of build up before AJ vs Wilder gets the go ahead, I can see the numbers being comparable. Chuck in some inflation and it tips over into new territory.

There is soo much potential for these guys to transcend into mainstream and plenty of time to do it. HW’s is the division that really gets the public attention...soo all I am saying is don’t be surprised.

You could be right when you factor in the future of things. Still it is hard to fathom anyone catching Floyd.

[sportbuddha]

As a few posters have pointed out, AJ has options to build a legacy and those options don’t have to include the US, Wilder or Fury.

Before anyone gets on my back, I’m not an advocate of this, ideally I would want the Wilder fight (and actually that’s a fight I don’t see AJ winning). But looking at it from a commercial point of view the US is not vital to Joshua.

AJ could fight Pulev in the U.K., Usyk in Saudi then Whyte back in the U.K - and make a fortune.

Looking beyond this you have the likes of Zhang who is signed to Matchroom and could be used to break China, then you have Ajagba (might appeal in Nigeria) and then Dubois etc may be coming through and challenging for world titles.

What I’m getting at is that Joshua has lots of options and can build a legacy with fights that don’t involve Wilder or Fury. The spectacle involved in taking boxing to “new markets” such as Saudi, Nigeria or China will still appeal to sponsors and is a decent spin for Matchroom.

For what it’s worth I don’t think either Wilder or Joshua are scared of getting in the ring with each other, but AJ’s commercial value outside of the US doesn’t mean it’s a must for him to chase big fights there - especially not a fight as risky as Wilder. I think the Saudi experience has brought that home to Hearn (and AJ).

It’s a global economy now, and the US, though still massively important in terms of boxing legacy, is no longer the be all and end all commercially.

I do think the Wilder or Fury fights eventually happen, but realistically think 2022 looks about as early as either would take place. Hope I’m wrong!

I agree with your assessment of the landscape. Although I think late 2021 is most likely.

The world can be dominated without Wilder. In a way it could work out well if Wilder can get enough viewers in America. That way, by the time they fight it’s US vs Rest of World, kind of a thing.

The UK and Euro’s know about AJ already, his fan following in UK is mad...100k+ gates and 1.6m PPV is incredible. He now has eyes on him from the Mexicans, some of which would want him to win over Wilder because he showed their man respect. The Middle East now know about him. New Zealanders know who he is and Australians. I hadn’t thought of the China angle, that’s an interesting one.

Africa is definitely catching on, I’m not sure he’ll fight a Nigerian in Nigeria, since he’s sort of flying that flag already and wants to be considered the local boy, I’d say it would be more likely Whyte in Nigeria, because it would be easy to negotiate with Hearn managing both.

Ultimately, I also think Saudi will be revisited, and wouldn’t be surprised if they paid big money to host him against Wilder.

So, in terms of marinating the fight, I see it being as more about Wilder needing more time to get greater marketability in the US, cos 250k PPV is not going to cut it.
In fact when you think about it, that’s atrocious, AJ has a country of 66m people doing 1.6m buys and Deontay as country of 320m doing 250k...he’s got a lot of work to do.

I’d say he needs to be doing 400k+, because I can see them dual DAZN/PPV selling it or even doing a special PPV kind of deal on DAZN as a one off, to get people to sign up.

So, regrettably the business side means we might wait 18months or more to see them fight, but there will be some good fights along the way.

[sportbuddha]

so the american public isn't interested in fury, wilder, or joshua...yet wilder thinks he deserves 50-50 and 100 million for one joshua fight on ppv. there seems to be a disconnect between his brain and reality.

Precisely! He doesn’t have the business leverage to be demanding 50/50, the numbers simply don’t add up. He talks a big talk, but not enough Americans are interested.

[JakeTheBoxer]

so the american public isn't interested in fury, wilder, or joshua...yet wilder thinks he deserves 50-50 and 100 million for one joshua fight on ppv. there seems to be a disconnect between his brain and reality.

A great post.

[angkag]

As a few posters have pointed out, AJ has options to build a legacy and those options don’t have to include the US, Wilder or Fury.

Before anyone gets on my back, I’m not an advocate of this, ideally I would want the Wilder fight (and actually that’s a fight I don’t see AJ winning). But looking at it from a commercial point of view the US is not vital to Joshua.

AJ could fight Pulev in the U.K., Usyk in Saudi then Whyte back in the U.K - and make a fortune.

Looking beyond this you have the likes of Zhang who is signed to Matchroom and could be used to break China, then you have Ajagba (might appeal in Nigeria) and then Dubois etc may be coming through and challenging for world titles.

What I’m getting at is that Joshua has lots of options and can build a legacy with fights that don’t involve Wilder or Fury. The spectacle involved in taking boxing to “new markets” such as Saudi, Nigeria or China will still appeal to sponsors and is a decent spin for Matchroom.

For what it’s worth I don’t think either Wilder or Joshua are scared of getting in the ring with each other, but AJ’s commercial value outside of the US doesn’t mean it’s a must for him to chase big fights there - especially not a fight as risky as Wilder. I think the Saudi experience has brought that home to Hearn (and AJ).

It’s a global economy now, and the US, though still massively important in terms of boxing legacy, is no longer the be all and end all commercially.

I do think the Wilder or Fury fights eventually happen, but realistically think 2022 looks about as early as either would take place. Hope I’m wrong!

Good assessment. Joshua does seem to have a path to ever-increasing riches without Wilder, and I have a feeling that any prospect of a Wilder fight has been delayed after the Ruiz experience. Joshua (or maybe should say his handlers) know that Wilder might derail Joshua again, and the loss to Ruiz gives Joshua an 'out' in a way that he can claim to still be rebuilding for a year while dealing with his mandatories and also making megabucks along the way (as you state, something like a Pulev, Usyk, Whyte, Adjaba run which would push Wilder into 2021).

If it plays out that Joshua can stay busy for 2 years without Wilder, question becomes what does Wilder during that period. I guess Fury, and Ruiz potentially, but its a thin pool that he has to pick from compared to the pool Joshua can pick from for 'credible/excusable' fights.

Joshua/Wilder may never happen (and if Wilder loses to Fury it definitely won't as Wilder will still be a huge risk to Joshua but without the belt etc).