The legendary promoter Barry Hearn believes a unification in the heavyweight division can be next – based on the current situation.
The coronavirus pandemic has froze boxing, and people must be flexible.
“Do you want to do Tyson Fury against Deontay Wilder on the terms that have been agreed and signed for on a previous contract? Answer? No bloody way. Can’t afford it, fight’s not big enough. Number one, too much money. Number two, where’s the income? Number three, can Bob Arum, various camps and promoters afford to do it? Don’t listen to the bullsh-t. No way,” Barry Hearn told IFL TV.
“That fight is a great fight, it’s contracted, but realistically, does everyone get paid? Then you come across Kubrat Pulev vs AJ. Without a live gate, it’s going to be a very low-earning fight for the fighters. Do they both accept that they’re going to earn a lot less money? Does it make the fight less attractive? Maybe it does to both of them.”
Neither Wilder or Pulev is willing to step aside.
“Maybe the better deal is to say to Pulev and Wilder, “we’ll pay you to sit on your backside and wait for the outcome of a fight with a guarantee of getting the next fight”, that might look attractive. When you put all these things together in the mix, the one fight you know you can sell for loads of money, where everybody gets paid, more than their previous fight, is Joshua vs Fury.”
“What about rolling those dice, Tyson Fury thinks he can beat Joshua, Joshua thinks he can beat Fury. They both know they’re going to earn far more money from that fight than any other fight. And it’s relatively straight-forward to put together, and there’s no danger of people not getting paid. That makes a bit of sense.”
