Bob Arum is not giving Anthony Joshua 24-2 (22) much of a chance to defeat Oleksandr Usyk 19-0 (13) if they head into an immediate rematch.
Ukrainian southpaw Usyk defeated Joshua by clearcut unanimous decision at Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium in Tottenham, England on Saturday night to claim the WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles. The scores were 117-112, 115-113 and 116-112.
Joshua has a rematch clause in his contract that he is expected to enact.
Arum, who co-promotes Joshua’s rival Fury, thinks Joshua should sidestep the immediate rematch.
“No I don’t [think he has a chance],” the Top Ranks boss said to iFL TV. “And I think Joshua would be well off if somehow he was able to take another couple of fights before the rematch with Usyk.
“And if people were sensible, Joshua would work out an agreement if Tyson Fury is successful with Wilder, to allow Usyk to fight Tyson Fury and to have each fighter contractually agree in his next fight – whether it’s Usyk or Fury – to fight the winner.
“That’s sensible. But again, this is boxing and promoters with egos and fighters not making in my opinion the right decision but really making fights based on emotion.”
Arum also called out Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn and questioned his decision-making process.
“Eddie Hearn being Eddie Hearn, who is all ego, won’t listen to something that makes sense,” he said.
“He will push, in my opinion – which he can legally – the rematch with Usyk and that will be an additional defeat on Joshua’s record and prevent him from what I think would be a massive fight against the unified champion.
“Usyk fights Tyson Fury or Wilder. And [Joshua] fights the winner. And then we’re into something that the public can make sense of.
“Now all eyes are going to be on Wilder-Fury, the winner of that fight will be accepted as the legitimate heavyweight champion – particularly should Joshua go right into an Usyk rematch, which I think is the wrong move for him.”
Usyk’s team are very keen on the rematch given the dominant nature of the 34-year-old’s victory in the first fight.
“The rematch was written in our contract,” Usyk’s manager Alex Krassyuk said on Tuesday at a press conference in Ukraine.
“When we were talking to Oleksandr about the rematch, he wasn’t upset. On the contrary, he was happy. He was glad and said: ‘Oh, cool! I will beat up Anthony twice!’
“The approximate time that Eddie Hearn announced at the press conference after the fight, February-March, is indeed true.”
Usyk reiterated his desire to unify all four major world titles at heavyweight but cautioned that bout would have to wait.
“We can talk about the unification of all the belts only after Fury will have a boxing match against Wilder and they determine the champion and after our rematch with Anthony,” Usyk said.
“Of course, I would like very much to have this unification match.”
