Top Rank boss Bob Arum thinks that after the shocking loss Anthony Joshua (22-1) suffered last week by Andy Ruiz Jr. (33-1) a potential fight between his top heavyweight name Tyson Fury (27-0-1) and “AJ” is pretty much dead in the water.
.@BobArum expects #WilderFury2 to exceed 2M PPV buys but explains to @CBSSports why it’s too early to confirm @BronzeBomber’s tweethttps://t.co/hxXXyOJZNM pic.twitter.com/D2LwhIF43X
— Brian Campbell (@BCampbellCBS) June 5, 2019
The 29-years-old former unified world heavyweight champion made his US debut at Madison Square Garden last Saturday, but he was TKO’d by Ruiz in what was one of the most shocking outcomes in the history of boxing.
Now when Joshua is no longer the king of the division Arum thinks that nobody will want to see the two Brits going at each other.
“The trouble is, Anthony Joshua had no reputation in America before. He has no reputation now. He got knocked out by Andy Ruiz, that says it all,” Arum exclusively told World Boxing News.
“If you put Joshua in with Wilder or Fury in the United States, it wouldn’t sell at all. Nobody knew Joshua before. I mean DAZN, for all the money they paid him, they got very few new subscribers from the fight,” Arum stated.
Asked whether the fight is further away than ever before, Arum added:
“Who the f*** is going to pay to see that fight? What it takes now is really serious boxing people building him up again.
“The same thing happened years ago with Wladimir Klitschko. He got knocked out by, I mean Samuel Peters had him down. Also got knocked out by Lamont Brewster or got beat by Lamont Brewster but they built him back up. He came back and became superlative.
“That’s what you gotta do with Joshua. Not rush him into an immediate rematch with Ruiz. The same thing may happen before you’re able to rehabilitate the guy.”
