Eddie Hearn Move to be Made with Pulev
On February 22, not only did Tyson “The Gypsy King” Fury (30-0-1, 21 KO’s) violently dethrone Deontay Wilder and take his WBC title, he effectively shook up the division. Now the boxing world is on the edge of their seats to see what match-ups can be made next.
WHERE THE CHIPS MAY LAND
The most meaningful of them all would pit Fury against unified world heavyweight champion Anthony “AJ” Joshua (23-1, 21 KO’s). The winner would emerge as the undisputed heavyweight champion of the division. Yet, while this bout is the most appealing, there are a number of potential hang-ups. First and foremost, Wilder had a rematch clause built into his contract with Fury that most think he will enact.
If Wilder does face Fury again, then clearly the Fury v Joshua prizefight would be placed on the back-burner. However, at the moment, AJ has his own bit of business to button up with Kubrat “The Cobra” Pulev (28-1, 14 KO’s). Pulev is the mandatory challenger for his IBF title.
According to Joshua’s Matchroom Boxing promoter, Eddie Hearn, there is wiggle room to work with to postpone the fight with Pulev. But that would only come into play if the Bronze Bomber passed on the immediate rematch, as Hearn explained to Sky Sports Boxing.
“Firstly this hinges on Wilder. You know, if we can go straight into the Fury fight this summer that is everybody’s preference! Kubrat Pulev is also promoted by Top Rank, there is a move to be made there where we can make Pulev wait and we can do this undisputed fight in the summer.
But we wait on Wilder, because if he exercises the rematch, we have no choice but to fight Pulev next and then fight the winner of Wilder against Fury. So everything is possible.”
GREAT TIME FOR BRITISH BOXING
When thinking about a would-be fight with Tyson Fury, Hearn is almost giddy with excitement. The second generation fight hustler is animated by the magnitude of the bout, the titles on the line and the fact that AJ would go in being viewed as the underdog.
“And I said to AJ last night , the great thing about this is you’re going into the fight as the underdog. Very rarely will you see AJ go into any fight as the underdog, but this time if you look at the betting markets, AJ is the underdog against Tyson Fury, perfect! Just how we want it! We believe that we’ve got the man who can be the undisputed heavyweight world champion, Tyson Fury believes he can beat Anthony Joshua. Only one way to find out, let’s make it happen!
…when are we ever going to get the chance of two British world heavyweights champions fighting for the undisputed title against each other?! It’s never happened before, it will never happen again, we’d be clowns, would be idiots if we didn’t make this fight.”
While achieving an undisputed heavyweight champion does sound appealing, like Hearn said, before we get too excited, we must first wait to see what Wilder is going to do. Stay tuned to 3kingsboxing for all the latest boxing news and updates.
By: Bakari Simpson
