Eddie Hearn has maintained that Anthony Joshua’s ideal next fight now that the Tyson Fury rivalry is on hold is against Oleksandr Usyk.
The Ukrainian fighter, the mandatory challenger to Joshua’s WBO title, has made his intentions clear in relation to facing his fellow 2012 Olympic gold medallist, but a fight between the pair has still not been confirmed.
Hearn has admitted previously that Joshua has a wealth of options when it comes to worthy challengers but for a potential fight with Fury to have all belts on the line, Joshua would need to keep his WBO belt. If his next opponent isn’t Usyk then it’s highly likely that the face of British boxing would be stripped.
“The absolute priority for “AJ” is to keep his belts,” said Hearn when appearing as a special guest on The DAZN Boxing Show. “If you asked us now ‘who do you guys want to fight next?’ Oleksandr Usyk. We want to do the fight. We hope we can agree terms. Talks are progressing so I think we’ll get there.”
On Joshua’s record, Hearn was quick to address his man’s position in the past when defending his collection of belts against a variety of mandatory challengers. Joshua’s multiple belts means that he has constantly been in a circle of satisfying the wishes of governing bodies and Hearn admits there is some frustration from Joshua.
“It’s just tiresome but he’s very proud of those belts. He likes the Usyk fight because he rates Usyk. He believes Usyk is a Pound-for-Pound fighter. “AJ” loves having a great resume. Let’s make the Usyk fight and we hope we can get there.”
You can watch the full interview with Hearn, including comments on the game-changing deal to bring Matchroom Boxing to DAZN in the UK and Ireland, on The DAZN Boxing Show.