After months of negotiations, Anthony Joshua’s world heavyweight title rematch with Oleksandr Usyk should finally be confirmed next week.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn is confident the two sides will be able to make an announcement next week. Saudi Arabia has long been the front runner because of the huge site fee on offer and Hearn and Usyk’s promoter Alexander Krassyuk are expected to confirm it will be held there on July 23.
Joshua beat Andy Ruiz Junior in a purpose-built outdoors arena in December 2019, but his clash with Usyk will be indoors in either Riyadh or Jeddah because of the intense summer temperatures in the kingdom. Hearn wanted to stage the fight back at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium where Usyk outpointed Joshua to win his WBA Super, IBF and WBO crowns in September.
Usyk was reluctant to return and give Joshua home advantage again plus the Saudi offer is worth tens of millions more to each fighter. Hearn claims the two sides are close to making an announcement and said: “It’s difficult. If you ask me that question now, yes, you will get an announcement next week.
“But then tomorrow something could take a little bit longer with a contract or an escrow or whatever. And then all of a sudden, I’m a liar and Billy in his Transformers pyjamas plays it back to me.
“‘Look at this clip. Eddie Hearn said we’d get an announcement next week and it’s now Monday of the week after’. So I will do my best. But as I talk to you now, I believe you’ll get an announcement next week.”
Joshua, 32, is relaxed about the length of time it is taking to confirm his rematch with Usyk. He began his camp some weeks ago at Loughborough with new trainer Angel Fernandez and has long been working towards a fight date of July 23.
The fight has originally mooted for April and the former two-time world heavyweight champ has used this extra time to do a reboot with Fernandez. Joshua’s career will be the line against Usyk and Hearn believes he will win and set up a showdown for the undisputed title against Tyson Fury in December.
Hearn is sceptical about Fury’s claims that the WBC king has retired and believes he can be tempted to fight for all the major crowns.
“We all know Tyson Fury’s not vacating, he’s not retiring, etc,” the Matchroom chief told iFL TV. “So of course they will give him time and they should give him time. You will next week get the official news on Joshua and Usyk, and Tyson should fight the winner, and I believe he will.
“By the way, you shouldn’t strip a fighter and they shouldn’t strip him, of course not. He doesn’t have to retire, he doesn’t have to give them a decision when his next fight is just yet, he’s just boxed. Of course we all know he’s not retiring so I expect to see him fight the winner of Joshua-Usyk II in December.
“All our focus on the moment is just to complete that fight and that contract, which we will do this week, and you will get an announcement next week.”
