Boxing

Totally confused about Oleksandr Usyk’s situation, Hearn has no clue if Joshua fight will happen


Via Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn is yet to know if Oleksandr Usyk will leave Ukraine to face Anthony Joshua in a rematch he hopes will take place in June.

Hearn is making a sound panic mode about the rematch not taking place, and one could say he doesn’t like the idea of ​​Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) entering a risky interim fight that won’t pay as much as the clash Usyk degree.

If Joshua loses again, he’d better be beaten by Usyk as there would be less of a backlash when defeated by a talented boxer like him.

Hearn & Joshua might be a good idea to abandon the Usyk ship and move on. No problem, they can always come back after he returns from the war in Ukraine and reschedule.

This week, Hearn has fluctuated back and forth, sounding optimistic about the Joshua-Usyk rematch to come then turning his head and voicing doubts.

As of today, Hearn is once again in doubt about the impending rematch between AJ and IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs).

Uncertainty about the rematch

“Now I have changed my mind. I had a chat a few days ago and I just have a feeling that Usyk is going to make that fight at the end of June,” Eddie Hearn told iFL TV. “You saw Vasily Lomachenko come overnight to say, ‘I’m out of the Kambosos war. I will stay in Ukraine. ‘

“It can make it difficult let Oleksandr Usyk do something different,” Hearn said. “Obviously they are also very close. I’ll catch up with Alex Krassyuk today or tomorrow. We just need to know. I know it’s a delicate situation, but for AJ’s career, we need to know.

Boxing photo Alexander Usyk, Anthony Joshua

“Are we fighting a temporary war in June and then fighting Usyk in September or October or are you ready to go at the end of June. If he doesn’t, we’ll let him wait. We want that fight now.

“Because of the news about Vasily Lomachenko last night,” Hearn said why he changed his mind about his belief that Usyk is likely NOT to leave Ukraine to face Joshua in June.

“They are very close. If Vasily says, “I’ll stay,” and Usyk says, “I’ll go.” But you can only imagine what is happening there. I can’t imagine what I would do or decide if I was in that position.

“We give them the respect and time they need, but we need to continue the career of Anthony Joshua,” Hearn said.

There is no clear candidate for the interim fight

“Not at the moment, to be honest with you,” Hearn said when asked if he was considering a candidate for an interim bout with Joshua. “Luis Ortiz’s team reached out. Otto Wallin’s team contacted me.

“I think one or two others. Those were the only ones who approached the battle. I didn’t go back. There’s no point in negotiating the war until we know what we’re doing.

“AJ has made it clear to me that he wants a top candidate. He wants a world-ranked candidate. So if that’s the route we’re going down, then we’ll look at all the available options and go from there.

“Of course, it was a terrible situation. We respect Usyk and we give him all of their time. Selfish, and people might say.

“I don’t mind saying it selfishly because we have to take care of Anthony Joshua, and I need to make sure I keep him active, get him into the ring.

“In that case, we need an answer soon, and I haven’t pushed for one, but we’re at the stage where we need to push for one.

Usyk is given time

“We will give Usyk time. We didn’t let that opportunity slip away because it was the only fight that AJ honestly wanted,” Hearn said.

“But if we have to go out and prepare Usyk with an interim fight with a new training team and whatever might happen then that is what we will do.

“That’s the plan,” Hearn said when asked if Joshua would definitely fight in June. “We don’t really want to fight later than June, and that’s when the principles of the agreement on the timeframe come into effect. June is where we want to fight.

“We’ve had a lot of international offers for AJ to fight, and we also have options in the UK. We’re in deep talks about Usyk vying for some places, and obviously, we need to give them feedback to say, ‘Are we moving? Where we are going?’

“We are talking to a number of locations for the fight with Usyk, and we are also talking to a number of locations for the interim fight, which could turn around really quickly if we get news from Usyk that he wants to wait.

Boxing photo Alexander Usyk, Anthony Joshua

“Never contacted, no,” Hearn said when asked if he had been contacted about staging a fight between Joshua and Joe Joyce. “I think Joyce is doing very well. He’s building, and it’s a fight that can certainly be considered, but let’s see what happens to Usyk first.

“We just wanted to play Usyk, to be honest, but if we can’t, we need an opponent,” Hearn said.

Waiting game

Matchroom Boxing’s Frank Smith tells iFL TV about the Joshua vs. Usyk: “It’s constantly changing, it’s constantly moving, and everything in boxing is self-evident.

“Usyk has very important things going on, much bigger than boxing right now. We are waiting for an update on that. AJ’s #1 focus is on a rematch with Usyk. He wants to go in there and work with Usyk, but let’s see how things go.

“I think this week really that we’re going to get a clearer picture of it all. Apparently, there were discussions about Lomachenko as well as fighting the Kambosos. Lomachenko says he doesn’t travel. So we have to wait until the end of this week to see how this plays out.

“Ultimately if that is not possible, we will have to consider a temporary fight for Anthony. Hopefully by the end of the week we’ll have a clearer picture because obviously, we need to move and plan.

“He was always aiming for the June time. That was the day we looked at the Usyk fight,” Smith said when asked when Joshua wants to fight. “So that’s always been the focus. So sometime in June, from start to finish, we can make something a success.

“I haven’t heard anything yet, but it happened to me,” Smith said.




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