Eddie Hearn has explained how the initial contract for Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua was not what he expected, before assuring fans that it is now looking better.
Fury's promoter Frank Warren sent paperwork to Joshua's team earlier this month for a December 3 heavyweight title fight at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. The headline was that the purse split would be 60-40 in Fury's favour, but other unspecified terms were not to Hearn and Matchroom Boxing's liking.
However, they have restarted negotiations and the new deal appears to be more favourable, with Hearn insisting that the likelihood of the fight happening is now "positive." He expects the negotiations to continue a little while longer, but admits they are facing time pressure to announce and properly promote the event.
"We received the contract a couple of days ago," Hearn told DAZN Boxing. "It wasn't as we expected but we've gone back and now it's getting to be as we expected. It's very positive, we're not saying anything negative, they're not saying anything negative - I've never spoke to Frank Warren so I'm not sure that would have worked well.
"But now I have met with George Warren and we did get on, touch wood, very well. I think we're kind of putting that to the side and saying 'look, we've got a chance here to do something special. We're up against it time-wise, the broadcasters have got to have their conversation but we'd like to get it done."
Both sides are keen to have an agreement in time for the date, but with just over two-and-a-half months to make it work time may be against them. Hearn is also concerned about former WBA regular champion Mahmoud Charr's recent declarations that he and not Joshua will be Fury's opponent in December.
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"We both would like to get it done," Hearn continued. "When we got the contract it was maybe 90-10 the other way, but we're in the positives now of making the fight happen. Whether that's 70 per cent, 80 per cent, things can change very quickly and all of a sudden someone gets injured or needs more time, or Tyson Fury wants to fight someone else.
"It worries me a little bit that Mahmoud Charr is coming out and saying 'I'm fighting Tyson Fury on December 3, but maybe that's just the back-up. Everybody on AJ's team is now committed to making that fight happen. No-one is saying 'oh don't do it,' we're saying that he's training now for Tyson Fury for December 3."
Fury is coming off the back of two world title defences against Deontay Wilder and Dillian Whyte, the second of which was a big-money homecoming at Wembley Stadium that drew a crowd believed to be around 94,000. Meanwhile, this could be Joshua's last chance at big-time world title bouts after losing three of his last five including two consecutive bouts with Oleksandr Usyk.
