Promoter Eddie Hearn has admitted that his boxer Anthony Joshua 24-1 (22) will likely have to face Tyson Fury 30-0-1 (21) without his head coach in his corner.
WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion Joshua, 31, has signed on to take on WBC counterpart Fury, 32, in the northern hemisphere summer.
The bout is expected to take place in late July or early August with the likely venue being in the Middle East.
The problem for Joshua is that the proposed date for the fight will conflict with his trainer Robert McCracken’s other pressing engagement. McCracken is also the head coach of the Great Britain boxing team headed to the Tokyo Olympics.
“We don’t have a choice,” Hearn said. “There are too many people and things to fit around already with the fighters, trainers, countries, time zones, the Olympics.
“Whatever date we are given by the site is the date that we will go with. I know AJ and Rob have been talking, so I am sure they will work it out.
“It will depend on timings, the date we get given is when the fight takes place and the guys know it will be around the Olympics. It could be inappropriate but it is the biggest fight in boxing and the biggest moment in AJ’s career so we have to work it out.
“I know Rob takes his position very seriously, he loves the job and the kids so it’s not ideal, but we can’t move it a couple of weeks either side.
“Someone is spending a lot of money, so we have to go whenever they say.
“Both sides have accepted one specific proposal and we are finalizing that with contracts going backwards and forwards and tiny, tiny points getting ironed out.
“We haven’t finalized an exact date, July 24 is the rough date but it may leak into early August but no later than that.”
The Matchroom Boxing boss doesn’t expect there to be a broadcasting clash with the Olympics as they will be shown live overnight with the time difference between the UK and Tokyo. The Joshua-Fury fight would be scheduled to be beamed into the UK in the late afternoon or early evening.
“The Olympics will be a different time zone so it’s not really in the mindset,” said Hearn, who has a 20,000 seat indoor venue in mind for the four-belt heavyweight unification bout.
“I know the Olympics is a huge event but I see them very differently. I know a lot of people won’t agree with me, but I personally see this bigger than the Olympics. I just feel it is bigger than the Olympics, for Britain, because the world will stop to watch and it’s between two Brits.
“It’s impossible to schedule anything without clashing with something. It’s impossible, so we will go on the date we are told to go on.”
