Eddie Hearn believes that Anthony Joshua accepted a fight with Tyson Fury knowing that it may be his “only chance” to take on his fellow British heavyweight.
Joshua’s management announced this week that they had agreed to “all terms” regarding a fight with Fury, the WBC heavyweight champion.
Fury had said that he would accept a 60:40 purse split, with Joshua convinced to lose out financially to set up the marquee encounter.
The offer came after Oleksandr Usyk, who was expected to next take on Fury in a title unification fight, suggested that he would not compete again in 2022 after securing a second victory over Joshua last month.
Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, thinks that the 32-year-old realises this will be his only shot at the WBC champion, who has already reversed his decision to retire.
“[Anthony Joshua] thinks: this is my only chance, because if he fights Usyk, win or lose I think he’ll retire or you never know with Fury, he could just never fight again,” Hearn explained to Sky Sports.
“The reason he accepts these terms is he feels this is the only chance he’ll get to fight Tyson Fury. So therefore, okay, it would have been better to come off a victory but we’re here and [Joshua thinks] I can beat him and I feel good.
“When he drew to [Deontay] Wilder, we offered Fury the fight against AJ and we offered him 60:40 and he said no and he said I’ll only take 50:50. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to push back on some of the terms. But in the end it was AJ who overruled and said ‘no, just accept it’.
“He’s always believed he can beat him.”
3 December was mentioned by Joshua’s team as a likely date for the clash, with the Principality Stadium in Cardiff rumoured as a potential venue.
Fury had announced his intention to retire after beating Dillian Whyte at Wembley in April, but appears set to continue his professional career.
Hearn does fear, though, that the 34-year-old’s decision to offer Joshua the clash may be a ploy to force Usyk’s hand and get the Ukrainian to agree to a fight.
The promoter has therefore been exploring back-up plans with his client keen on a December return to the ring.
“I think [Fury’s promoter] George [Warren] feels his instructions are to make the fight,” Hearn said. “But you just never know with Tyson Fury… Is this a ploy to speed up the Usyk fight, get more money from a site?
“It might have been a bluff, or a bit of publicity that actually turns into it happening. Or maybe it was genuine from the start.
“It could be anything. That’s a sceptical view but right now I’m going along the lines of I believe him because I want to be positive and work together to make it happen.
“[But] I can’t put AJ’s future in the hands of Tyson Fury. Whilst we’ll be as positive as we can, we’ll be as helpful as we can, I need to have plan B up my sleeve because this might not happen.
“We’ve been looking at opponents for AJ for December and his list is very different to my list. So I don’t think he’s interested in opponents that he’s just going to get no credit or respect for. Straightaway when I asked him about this fight, he went, ‘Let’s do it’.
“I think he’s coming off a decent performance. He just fancies the fight and fancies his chances. He’s willing to roll the dice.”
