EDDIE HEARN believes the deal that will bring Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury together in May or June will be finalised within the next four weeks.
Once the contracts between the parties are finalised, the not so small matter of the venue will be resolved.
The UK is not under consideration to host. The pandemic brings frankly insurmountable problems given the timescale but, even if that wasnโt the case, Britainโs lack of bargaining power always made the British superfight taking place on British soil unlikely.
Weโre told, therefore, that the contest โ one of the biggest in boxing history โ could end up in one of the following: Australia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Eastern Europe or America.
โWe’ve had so many approaches in the past about so many different fights,โ Hearn explained. โGenerally half of them are real and half are someone who’s trying to spin some commission.
โThat’s why I want to get into a position where we can go out collectively to talk to these people once a deal is in place. I think the Middle East will be very aggressive and will be frontrunners in this.
โBut we’ve had a lot of other interesting approaches from territories that we might not have thought were players in this fight but I believe they are.โ
Hearn effectively ruled out America as a viable option.
โTo stage this fight youโre going to need significant government support,โ he said. โI donโt think a major gate alone [will be enough], and this is the problem with the US where we could do a huge gate. It needs to be bigger than that.
โItโs going to be difficult for a country that doesnโt have financial support from the government to land an event like this. You need someone who is going to stage the fight as a statement for their country, for exposure for their country, to showcase tourism and to showcase theyโre up and running as a nation.
โAnywhere that is reliant on a gate is out of the question in light of the restrictions.โ
Hearn rolled his eyes when it was put to him that Furyโs promoter Bob Arum had this week confirmed that a venue was already firmly in place.
โHe was having one of his funny fags or whatever, I don’t know,โ responded Hearn. โThere is definitely not a venue agreed for the fight but there are conversations going on with a number of venues.
โWhether Bob thinks there’s one specifically we’re going to take, there’s absolutely no agreement on a venue yet but there have been a number of offers from venues.
โI don’t want to get into a situation of going backwards and forwards with venues and negotiating site deals until we have a solid deal in place with the fighters and that, for me, is the chronological order of what to do here: Deal agreed, let’s now move forward. Both fighters have to agree with the site deal to make sure they’re happy with where itโs going and we’re almost in a position where we can go out and look at where this fight is going to take place.โ
As well as finding a venue there are also various broadcasters to appease. Hearn doesnโt believe that getting Sky Sports, BT Sport, DAZN and ESPN all singing to the same hymn sheet will be a problem.
โI donโt think it will be difficult,โ he said. โThereโs a solution for everybody. The two broadcast issues are DAZN and ESPN in America; โAJโ has a matching rights deal with DAZN and Fury has an exclusive deal with ESPN. When you flip that in the UK, AJ has an exclusive deal with Sky and Fury has matching rights with BT Sport.
โIs there a deal where all four of those parties can carry the broadcast of the fight? Yeah, I believe there is.
โI canโt speak on behalf of Sky but Iโm not sure they would have an issue with saying to the public you can watch on Sky or BT. When itโs a fight of this magnitude, I donโt think anyone is looking to be obstructive.โ
Hearnโs deal with Sky Sports expires in the summer. There has been speculation that he will move on, particularly considering his involvement with DAZN. The promoter would not commit but indicated a new deal with the British broadcasters is likely.
โWeโve got a long-standing relationship with Sky and weโre in negotiations to extend that,โ said Hearn.
โWeโve had three approaches from different broadcasters to look at or entertain a long-term deal with them. Iโm very happy where we are, we have a fantastic pay-per-view platform, we have a great team of people at Sky who have allowed us to grow and have trust in our vision for the sport. Weโll be looking to finalise that in the next four to six weeks.โ
Other potential party poopers include: the WBO; their mandatory Oleksandr Usyk; and Deontay Wilder. The former WBC champion is still thought to be chasing the third fight with Fury that was contractually obliged. Mediation with Wilder is ongoing but, according to Hearn, it isnโt expected to prevent Anthony Joshua-Tyson Fury at this juncture.
Usyk and the WBO may not be so easy to solve. But the worst case scenario would appear to be that Joshua-Fury goes ahead without the WBO title at stake.
If all the obstacles are being cleared, removed or at least pushed to one side, why are we still waiting on a deal?
โThe deal is done, really, without being signed. The financial elements of the deal are done, weโre talking through the broadcast situation, the only thing really now is to paper it, which is whatโs going on at the moment, and when you paper a deal like that, it does go back and forward 15 times before every single letter is approved on the document. From there, we have to go out to the various sites and nail that as well.
โWhy is it taking a little bit longer? I donโt think the deal is taking longer, I think the contract is taking longer, if that make sense. So Iโm confident we have the basis of a deal in place but we donโt have a signed contract yet, and that is something โ over Christmas, with people in and out of the office โ has probably taken a little bit longer than I expected and I know that everyone is going to want this absolutely perfect before we announce.โ