Late May is the ideal time to stage a fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, according to Eddie Hearn, who hopes to start serious negotiations for a fight for the undisputed world heavyweight title as soon as possible, providing Joshua takes care of Kubrat Pulev on Saturday night.
An outline deal for a fight has been agreed, essentially with both agreeing to a 50-50 split of the pot in a two-fight deal, but Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, hopes any possible legal case between Deontay Wilder and Fury will not delay the fight.
Where that takes place is another matter and while Wembley Stadium would probably be the preferred venue of both, there is likely to be more money available if it heads to the Middle East, while the ongoing coronavirus pandemic could hurt confidence in staging a big event that relies on fans travelling.
If it were to go to the Middle East, it would need to take place before the summer temperatures get too extreme, while it would also not want to clash with the holy month of Ramadan, which takes place next year from mid-April to mid-May.
“I don’t think Tyson Fury wants to wait too long, he wanted to fight in December and then still wanted to fight in January or February,” Hearn said. “That won’t happen if we get an agreement in place to fight AJ, I believe he will go straight into it.
"For us the ideal time will be the end of May, but it all depends on where we go, when suits anybody who is making a bid for that fight or whether we do it in the UK. In the UK we have total control. We are not reliant on someone saying ‘this date is the best’. We decide the date, we decide the venue and we go on sale when we want, but if someone is paying a considerable site fee, we will have to adjust to the dates that they want. If it is not a date that suits both fighters I don’t think they will do it.”
The only way it could take place in the UK is with a big live crowd and while Joshua has been vocal on wanting the fight to be in the UK, his is not the only say.
“Ultimately, we’ll discuss with both management teams of those fighters the opportunities that are out there in terms of site fees, in terms of money in the pot and ultimately the fighters will decide where that fight will be held,” Hearn said.
“I don’t think you can just put it on Tyson and say ‘well, we need to get as much money as possible’ for him to accept the fight, but I do think AJ has consistently earned a lot of money over the last four years and will he care less about the total number in the pot than Tyson Fury? Probably.
“But still he’s not going to do it for half the money because it sounds nice. His team are going to make the right decision for his career.
“One thing for sure, if you ask both fighters, both promotional companies where they’d prefer that fight to take place, everybody would say London, everyone. So. if there’s a way to do it then great.”
While government money could be available in some countries to get the fight, that will not be the case in the UK and Hearn says it would be wrong to even ask.
“We’re not in the same situation as many countries which have significant budget to bring major sporting events to cities or to countries,” Hearn said. “We’re not also in a period where we should be asking the Government to provide that kind of help. They’ve got bigger things to worry about.
“That’s the danger that you’ve got that. We have to rely on the revenue that could be generated from the fight via the gate and not the revenue that could be generated by a tourism board or by a Government to bring an event like that to a country so that’s why it’s always difficult. It will literally be probably a 50% paycut to do the fight in the UK and that’s how brutal it is. If it was 10%, 20%, 30% you could have the argument but you’re literally going to make half the money to do it in the UK.”
Hearn said that if both agreed to take less money for a fight in the UK, it would happen, although he added that boxers deserved to make as much money as possible.
“If they both say that, we do it in a heartbeat,” he said. “I just want to be honest with you. It’s not how it works in sport and especially not in the fight game. And by the way it shouldn’t. You can’t have one argument, everyone says ‘Daniel Dubois quit, he’s got no heart’ and the other argument is ‘well, actually he could have lost his eyesight in there’. You’re basically saying this fighter should go in and put his health on the line without getting the maximum reward financially for that risk.
“So, if it’s close, if it’s marginal all day long do it in the UK. But half the money shouldn’t even be considered. That’s not me saying it, and it won’t be my decision. But I won’t be advising a fighter and I don’t think any management company should be advising a fighter to take half the money to do the fight somewhere else. One of those fights, in my opinion, must take place in the UK. I’m a strong believer in that. But particularly the first fight, both fighters, both teams, they’ll be saying to me show us how this fight works, show us the finances and I’ll present every option to them.”
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for Boxing Scene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.
