Eddie Hearn says the potential Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua blockbuster is “not about the money” for AJ as excitement hits fever pitch among UK boxing fans.
Team Joshua confirmed on Tuesday that they have “agreed to all terms offered” for an all-British superfight on Saturday December 3, with Fury’s WBC and lineal world heavyweight titles on the line. Hearn now expects to receive a contract imminently and believes there is no reason the long-awaited showdown should not finally go ahead.
Fury vs Joshua offer was ‘take it or leave it’
Speaking to Matchroom Boxing from Las Vegas, where he is promoting Saturday’s massive Canelo vs GGG 3 showdown at T-Mobile Arena, he said: “On Friday I met with George Warren and we had an offer for the fight. We weren’t happy with all the terms, we tried to negotiate those terms, we were told ‘there is no negotiation’ – take it or leave it, and we took it. We accepted the offer in writing on Friday.
“Spoke to George Warren again this morning, we expect to receive the contract in the next couple of days . Hopefully we can move forward with the fight, there’s no reason not to now – the key terms are agreed, there is obviously the broadcast situation to sort out which at the moment is also extremely positive so fingers crossed. At the moment we’re in a good place.”
A tale of the unexpected for Joshua
Joshua (24-3) is coming off his second consecutive defeat by Oleksandr Usyk and the third in his last five fights. Hearn openly admits that the chance to face Fury next came totally out of the blue.
“It’s not what we expected. Coming off the Usyk defeat I felt AJ would come back with an easier fight in December and maybe another one in the spring and then Dillian Whyte and (Deontay) Wilder.
“But this is the fight that AJ has wanted for so long and he wasn’t prepared to wait any longer. He felt this could be his only opportunity to get the fight with Tyson Fury. Everybody asks him about that fight all the time.”
Hearn also believes Joshua’s willingness to accept only 40% of revenues with Fury taking 60 is another example of his fighter’s desire to always sign up for the bouts the public want to see.
“He’s continuously fought all challengers, he’s continuously fought everybody that people wanted him to fight, or tried to. This is another example of that.
“Like I said, I think Mr Fury has a great deal but this wasn’t about the money for AJ, this was about the challenge and we accept the challenge.”
The broadcast situation Hearn refers to comes because the two fighters are aligned with different networks in the UK. Fury’s bouts air on BT Sport Box Office, while AJ recently signed a global deal with streaming platform DAZN. Right now it appears likely the two will share the rights in the UK.
Fury and Joshua came very close to meeting back in 2021, when they had signed up for a bout in Saudi Arabia in August. Within hours though that plan was in tatters after Deontay Wilder won an arbitration ruling to force a trilogy fight with Fury.