Anthony Joshua can’t wait to get in the ring with Tyson Fury. But if Eddie Hearn wants out because of Dana White, then he’ll join his longtime promoter.
Hearn and White have been embroiled in an ongoing feud that threatens to overshadow the Dec. 11 fight between Fury and Joshua, one of the most highly anticipated matchups in boxing history. For now, the bout is proceeding as scheduled, but the waters have been muddied by White claiming he has a major role in promoting the fight and Hearn insisting that contracts have been signed that officially exclude White’s involvement.
For Joshua’s part, he’s willing to back up Hearn if his team decides to call the whole thing off.
“My loyalty’s with Eddie, so whatever he wants to do, if he wants to pull the plug, I’ll be right there tugging that plug with him,” Joshua told talkSPORT Boxing.
White was absent from Wednesday’s press conference in London, but still drew a reaction from the crowd, who erupted in boos at the very mention of White’s name. Hearn called White’s handling of the situation “one of the greatest PR disasters in boxing.”
Given the amount of time and resources that has gone into making Fury vs. Joshua finally happen, it seems unlikely the bout will be cancelled, and Joshua pointed out how it has already overcome several hurdles to make it this far.
“Obviously, the agenda was to make this fight happen by any means, but a sticking point was for it to be held in the U.K.,” Joshua said. “A sticking point was for it to be enrolled in VADA and a few other things, so there was a few sticking points, but those sticking points weren’t going to be the reason why the fight wouldn’t happen.
“It has to happen. There’s no better time than now. What else would I have done? Who else would I have fought?”
Fury and Joshua are both at the tail end of storied boxing careers, having captured multiple titles at heavyweight and gone toe-to-toe with the best fighters of their generation. For years, it appeared the two were destined to square off, but they were never officially booked to fight for various reasons.
Win or lose, Joshua is glad the bout is taking place in Wales, on U.K. soil, because he knows what it means to his legacy and British boxing as a whole.
“It’s good because getting this fight over to the U.K. is something that we fought for,” Joshua said. “It’s been a battle this year in general just to be sat here with you, even to go through what I went through in my last fight where I had to turn the tide in my favor. I had a horrid Round 1 and I rallied through and I got the knockout. Then I went through this situation where there’s contract negotiations and things where higher powers are upset with me and sending me personal messages. I’m a G, if you want to go to war, but it’s like, corporate level of messages where people aren’t happy.
“I just want them to know that I fought for the British boxing and I wanted to bring some respect over to this side of the pond because I said that when I first fought for the world title, they wanted me to go to America. I took less money and I paid the champion more money to bring it to the United Kingdom, and I’ve said it in interviews before that I think that people should put more respect upon British fighters because we are fighters that need respect or fighters to be reckoned with, so that’s all I can ask for. Just remember me as someone who fought for British boxing and tried to bring the respect back here. That’s it, no more. I don’t want nothing more, I don’t expect nothing more, and I’m happy with that.”
