Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn has said that Anthony Joshua could very well vacate his WBO belt if a deal with Oleksandr Usyk’s teams fails to reach a conclusion that suits both camps.
“We’ll either make a deal or we’ll vacate,” the Matchroom Boxing boss said on Saturday night following Devin Haney’s win over Jorge Linares at the Michelob Ultra Arena at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“I mean, we won’t be going to purse bids or anything like that and mucking around. By the way, I don’t blame the WBO. They were actually quite generous to us with our time.
“I mean, let’s be honest – it dragged on a lot, didn’t it? So I have to take my hat off to [WBO president] Paco Valcarcel because he did put himself, his neck on the line, to allow that fight when Usyk had a strong case for it not to be allowed.
“But when the time come, [Valcarcel] had to do what he had to do. So I’m not annoyed with the WBO. I’m just annoyed that it seems that basically AJ is told who he’s gotta fight every single time. But that’s the problem of having three or four belts. That’s just how it is.
“I feel like as long as the deal goes smoothly… and no one tries to be clever, then I think that fight is quite automatic,” he said.
“And the way that the conversations have been going with Alex Krassyuk, who I’ve worked with for the last three [Usyk] fights anyway, [have] been sensible. So, as long as everyone’s sensible, that’s the fight. And I think it’s a very good fight. It’s not the Fury fight, which is the one we wanted, but it’s still a very good fight.
“I do think where we are with negotiations, we would probably say to the WBO if there’s no deal by Monday or Tuesday, could we have another week, please? Like if both teams say that, then they’ll give you more time, you know?”
Eddie Hearn has been in the boxing business for years now. So, he should have known and expected that Anthony Joshua would be getting orders from all different directions on who he is to fight. That is the politics of boxing. Lennox Lewis vacated the IBF title after he rested it from Evander Holyfield because he found the prospect of fighting then mandatory challenger Chris Byrd unappealing. Riddick Bowe literally binned his WBC belt because he did not want to face Lewis. And George Foreman was stripped of the WBA belt after winning it from Michael Moorer due to mandatory requirements.
So, this kind of thing isn’t anything new, really.
But the question is if Joshua vacates the WBO belt then does that mean a match with Usyk does not go ahead afterall? That would seem the most logical conclusion. I can already see the criticisms from fans saying that Joshua has ducked the Ukrainian.
It is important for Joshua’s legacy to continue fighting the best available contenders. And Oleksandr Usyk is one of them at this present time. Besides the important reasons, Joshua v Usyk isn’t really a bad little heavyweight fight, either.
After the disappointment of Joshua v Fury failing to come to fruition right now it would be a shame for Matchroom to have to go back to the drawing board and search for yet another opponent.
