As quickly as it appeared there could be an all-British showdown between WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and former unified champion Anthony Joshua, the prospect of that fight recently went up in smoke. And according to Top Rank’s Bob Arum, he says Eddie Hearn was the one to make sure the fight didn’t happen.
As Arum relays to Sky Sports, even despite Tyson Fury’s public declarations of deadlines to sign the fight, had Hearn and Joshua still been willing to sign the deal as late as this past Monday they still could’ve gotten everything done in just a matter of hours since the purse split had already been agreed. That, however, was never Hearn’s intention, as Arum says Hearn deliberately slow-rolled negotiations to the point of collapse.
“Now, Mr Hearn got involved and he didn’t want the fight to happen from the get-go, so he slow-played it,” Arum said. “I’ve been in this business almost 60 years so I can tell when somebody doesn’t want something to happen and then slow-plays a negotiation.
“Here, once the percentages were decided, there were no real issues. You could sit in a room for three hours and get everything finalised, but Hearn refused to do it.”
Arum would continue by saying that there were no major disputes in their negotiations to stage this fight, which only makes it even more reprehensible in how Hearn carried this whole thing, mentioning how Hearn purposely sabotaged the talks.
As far as Arum can figure it, Hearn is being excessively protective over Joshua as perhaps his last remaining attraction and isn’t willing to sacrifice him to the altar of Tyson Fury.
