Hearn wants big fights only for Anthony Joshua

BoxingNews24

By Scott Gilfoid: After moving Anthony Joshua’s career slowly since he turned pro in 2013, Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn says he wants to have him fight “big fights only” at this point beginning with his match against Wladimir Klitschko on April 29 on Sky Box Office pay-per-view.

Hearn wants a unification fight for Joshua and WBC champion Deontay Wilder, and he’s hoping he can make that fight into a big one in both countries. Hearn hasn’t said it yet, but he might be hoping to make the Joshua vs. Wilder fight a pay-per-view match in the U.S, which is going to be a really tough to sell.

The casual boxing don’t know who Joshua is, and they still won’t know who he is after he fights Klitschko on April 29. Now if Klitschko was a big name to the fans in the States like Gennady Golovkin, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao or Saul Canelo Alvarez, then the Joshua-Klitschko fight would gain a lot of attention. If/when Joshua takes the 41-year-old Wladimir’s scalp, he would be on his way to becoming a star in the U.S, but the problem is the Ukrainian fighter isn’t a star in America. He’s a guy that has fought there and failed to win over the boxing fans in large numbers due to his safety first style of fighting.

“Wilder against Joshua can be built into a huge fight,” said Hearn. “Two undefeated, fast, big-punching heavyweights. But I think at the moment, the pure focus, because of the toughness of the fight, has to be Wladimir Klitschko. You come through and it’s no turning back, it’s big fights only.”

If Joshua beats Klitschko, he could be stuck having to defend his IBF title against Kubrat Pulev. That’s hardly a big fight. But there are big matches available to Joshua later on in 2017 against Wilder and possibly the winner of the March 4 fight between David Haye and Tony Bellew. I’d rather see Joshua face the Haye-Bellew winner first before fighting Wilder, because it gives the Joshua-Wilder fight more time to build into a bigger event.

Haye is getting up there in age at 37, and I think Joshua needs to get that fight out of the way before he ages out. Fighting Haye as soon as possible after his likely knockout victory over Bellew would be the best thing for Joshua, because Haye’s popularity will be high after that win. It would be the ideal time for the Joshua vs. Haye fight to take place.

If Joshua waits until 2018 to face Haye, the fight might not be as big. If Haye sticks with his current fight schedule of fighting rarely and against guys that have no hope of beating him, then I don’ see the British boxing fans getting too excited about Joshua facing him in 2018. The fight would need to take place in 2017 for it to be a big one. In an ideal world, Haye would help make the Joshua fight huge by taking on someone like Luis Ortiz and beating him, but I don’t see that happening. I think Haye is playing it safe with his career until he gets his big Joshua fight.

“I would like him to fight Wilder,” said Hearn. “You never know what is going to happen in boxing. AJ and Klitschko could have a 10, 11, 12 round war, do you do that again, or fight Wilder? Do you fight the Haye-Bellew winner?”

The odds of Joshua vs. Klitschko fight being a war are remote at best. I see that fight as having a quick ending with Joshua knocking out the fearful-looking Wladimir immediately in round 1. Wladimir has the power to hurt Joshua, but he no longer seems capable of letting his punches go.