Eddie Hearn still up in the air on Ruiz/Joshua rematch!
It’s has now been a full month and a half since Andy “Destroyer” Ruiz Jr’s (33-1, 22 KO’s) shocking upset of former heavyweight champion Anthony “AJ” Joshua (22-1, 21 KO’s). Within days of the thrilling contest, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn publicized that they would enact the immediate rematch clause.
At that point, there was every impression that the rematch details would be revealed quickly. On several occasions, Hearn himself alleged that the official announcement was close at hand.
Nevertheless, the fight date and location remain an industry mystery. Beyond there being no official fight stipulations, Hearn has repeatedly made conflicting statements on the matter. So much so, that even the UK promoter openly acknowledged the back and forth nature of the situation.
SEE-SAW FIGHT DECLARATIONS
From the very beginning, Hearn explained that in the original contract, the majority of items for the second go-around were already taken care of. The main obstructing obstacle seems to be figuring out a fight location. To his credit, Hearn has never wavered on the fight dates. The fight venue, on the other hand, remains a matter of much contention.
Whenever asked about where he wanted the bout to be staged, Hearn has consistently stated that it’s his preference to take the bout back to the UK. When it comes to AJ, Hearn has routinely supplied two conflicting responses.
In one breath, he says Joshua doesn’t care. Then in the next, he says that Joshua wants to do it over in MSG one more time.
When Kugan Cassius of IFL TV recently caught up with him, Hearn supplied the same overlapping information yet again.
“AJ is saying ‘I don’t really care where it is, you decide’ […] It is a percentage of people who say, go back to MSG, go back to MSG and Joshua is of that mind state as well.
“He said that to me […] So, Joshua is the one who is making the call on this.”
In the end, it appears there will be no early announcements that we can put our faith in. While we’ve heard it before, Hearn is confident that this official announcement is coming ‘soon’. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see how this plays out.
“Yea again. I’ve said five times now, I get people saying, ‘you said!’ But I’m saying because you’re asking me a question ‘when will you make a decision?’. At the time, I give you an answer for something that is the plan.
“This game changes [snaps fingers] like that everyday! […] Right now, in my mind, we will make a decision this weekend.”
By: Bakari Simpson
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