Eddie Hearn is far from certain Tyson Fury’s proposed fight with Anthony Joshua will go ahead.
After announcing his retirement several times, suggesting he would fight Derek Chisora, or Oleksandr Usyk, or Francis Ngannou, Fury’s latest outburst was to suggest he would fight Joshua.
Joshua last fought in August when he lost his rematch to Usyk in Saudi Arabia, and a fight with Fury would give him the chance to win the WBC heavyweight belt, to become champion once again.
The former three-belt champion has accepted Fury’s offer of a 60-40 split in Fury’s favour for a December 3 fight in Cardiff, and a rematch would give the pair an even split of revenues.
Speaking to the MMA Hour , Hearn gave an update.
“You don’t know what’s happening behind the scenes - is this a ploy to speed up the Usyk fight, get more money from a site? It could be anything," Hearn said.
“But right now I’m going along the lines of I believe them because I want to be positive and try and work together to make it happen.”
Hearn continued: "We hadn’t anticipated anything. Then George Warren called me and said ‘he’s serious, what do you think?’
“I said ‘I don’t know, is he really serious, because I don’t believe him.’
“I spoke to AJ and George said we would have an offer. We got an offer and myself and George agreed we would keep everything under wraps and the next thing Fury had told everyone the offer on social media.
“We went back and said we can’t do November but would accept December 17 and we said we accept 60-40, but would like to flip it the other way for the rematch if AJ wins. They came back and said no to the flip and it’s got to be November 26 or December 3, if you don’t agree to all of that there is no fight.
“So I went back to AJ and said ‘I have no idea if they are genuine but if they are, these are the only terms they will accept’. He said ‘I accept, if they are bluffing we will find out, but I want to do the fight’.
“If they are genuine, and George tells me they are, I think the fight gets made.
"I think George feels his instructions are to make the fight, but you never know with Tyson Fury. If he genuinely wants the fight…. We couldn’t have done any more. We just said we will accept all terms.
"It might have been a bluff or a bit of publicity that actually turns into the fight happening. Or maybe he was genuine from the start. Or maybe it is a ploy to get more money out of another situation, I don’t know."
Hearn, however, continues to plan for alternatives.
“My biggest concern is - and what I won’t allow to happen - I’m not having AJ [not] fighting in December because we made that decision for him to fight in December," he explained.
“I’m working on December 17 as well while we go because I can’t put AJ’s future in the hands of Tyson Fury. While we will be as positive as we can, as helpful as we can be, I need to have Plan B up my sleeve because this might not happen."