GIVEN that heโs a heavyweight champion, who fights in lucrative pay-per-view events, youโd think Anthony Joshua would have no trouble lining up a challenger. But the November 26 Manchester Arena Anthony Joshua opponent is still pending. It could however be announced by the end of this week.
The idea of taking on Hughie Fury was briefly floated. Eddie Hearn, Joshuaโs promoter said, โHughie Fury, his fight with Andy Ruiz fell through. I phoned up Peter Fury and said we havenโt secured our opponent yet, do you want the fight? We offered him ยฃ600,000 with an upside on pay per view that probably would have given him ยฃ800,000. Itโs a fortune. If you believe you can beat Anthony Joshua you take the fight for the heavyweight world title for ยฃ800,000. They asked for ยฃ1.5 million, which is like a 60-40 split and that just means we donโt want the fight. So that was how long that conversation lasted.โ
โIโve been thinking a lot about Klitschko-Joshua,โ he continued. โThe fans donโt go, ‘Youโve got to progress Joshua in the right way.’ But at the same time you look at that fight and you think I think we win. So thatโs why we said if itโs WBA and IBF, if itโs a unification would we do it? And I think the answer is yes. But weโre fighting here [at the Manchester Arena] in nine weeks, so weโve got to announce [this] week really and things need to move at a pace.โ
โWe offered [Kubrat] Pulev ยฃ500, 600, 700 [000]. โNo, no, no.โ Youโre fighting for 100[000] for the European title, what is going on? [Bermane] Stiverne, weโll give you double the money youโll get for fighting Alexander Povetkin. โNo, Iโll fight Povetkin,โโ Hearn noted of the trouble trying to nail down opponents.
The most likely opponent for the Manchester Arena show therefore is Joshuaโs mandatory challenger, New Zealander Joseph Parker.