Comeback bid: Anthony Joshua will face Oleksandr Usyk for a second time this summer
(Picture: Getty Images)London has fallen down the pecking order in the race to host Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight summer rematch against Oleksandr Usyk.
A decision over the venue is expected to be made in the next two weeks, with Tottenham Hotspur Stadium still the preferred venue for Londoner Joshua.
But Joshua’s camp have their work cut out to persuade defending champion Usyk to come to the capital once more and miss out on more lucrative offers from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and two sites in the United States.
The rematch is set to equate to a 50-50 split between the two fighters and Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn admitted London had dropped back in the race to host.
“London is an option,” he told Standard Sport. “If it’s London, we’ll want to go back to Tottenham. I’ve already spoken to Daniel Levy, the first fight was an incredible experience.
“We want to do a fight in London because it’s a bigger advantage to AJ quite frankly, but we’ve had a number of offers that are much more lucrative than London.
“I’m not saying money’s not important to Anthony Joshua but he has to win the fight, so he would prefer to take less money potentially to do it in London, but I’m sure Usyk wouldn’t.”
The site fees on offer elsewhere could almost double the revenue of the fight, which is set to take place between the end of June and July 23 at the latest, although no date has been set at this stage.
Joshua was completely outboxed by Usyk in their first meeting in London back in September. And despite some critics suggesting the former champion is now a spent force in the heavyweight division, Hearn backed his fighter to regain his world titles as he did following a previous loss to Andy Ruiz Jr.
“I think it’s remarkable that people can talk about AJ being done when he lost to the pound-for-pound No2 fighter in the world,” said Hearn, who predicted Joshua had another three years left at the top of the sport. “He’s young, he’s fit and has no injuries. He lives and breathes for boxing and I’ve seen a hungrier AJ than I’ve ever seen before in his career to date, which is the bounce back that I wanted to see.
“Once the desire goes in boxing, it becomes a very, very dangerous sport. He wants to win more than ever in his career and he’s so convinced having shared the ring with Usyk that he can beat him. But he’s got to do things much more differently in this fight and I think he will and I think he can.”
