Why Anthony Joshua is fighting in Manchester

Anthony Joshua vs Dominic Breazeale

IBF heavyweight Anthony Joshua will box in the Manchester Arena on November 26, a month after Tyson Fury and Wladimir Klitschkoโ€™s scheduled October 29 rematch for the WBA and WBO heavyweight crowns in the same venue.

โ€œThe O2 wasnโ€™t available, itโ€™s a bigger arena, theyโ€™re the main two reasons really. Obviously weโ€™ve done a lot of O2 cards, we had April 9, June 25 and this one September 10, so decided to go up north,โ€ promoter Eddie Hearn explained. โ€œWe tried actually to get the Millenium stadium for December 3 but theyโ€™ve got an event on December 10, which wasnโ€™t confirmed and when we challenged them they only wanted to do one date, because of the pitch, in December.

โ€œWeโ€™ll sell out in the first 10 or 15 minutes. Itโ€™s nothing to do with the Fury fight, itโ€™s just thatโ€™s where the biggest stadium is in Manchesterโ€ฆ Itโ€™s different kind of audiences I think as well.

โ€œDeep down theyโ€™ll know who the draw is but saying that, Tyson Furyโ€™s got the bigger achievement in pro boxing. When you talk about bargaining for that [Fury-Joshua] itโ€™s a pure 50-50 fight. Joshuaโ€™s a much bigger name, Tyson Furyโ€™s got the better win. I think theyโ€™ll feel the same way. I donโ€™t think that will be a difficult fight to make when all the mess is cleared.โ€

The most likely opponent for Joshuaโ€™s next fight is Kubrat Pulev, the European heavyweight champion, although New Zealandโ€™s Joseph Parker and former WBC champ Bermane Stiverne are also in the frame.

โ€œI like the Pulev fight,โ€ Hearn said. โ€œI would think that smaller guys, with faster hands are more dangerous against a man with size and thatโ€™s why I think Pulev is a good fight for AJ because itโ€™s European style, jab-right hand.

โ€œTheyโ€™re all difficult [to make]. They all want a fortune. Weโ€™re having to pay a lot of money for opponents but theyโ€™re all looking at Anthony Joshua and looking at the numbers and saying Iโ€™m not fighting him for peanuts so pay me up.

โ€œPulevโ€™s definitely the most likely, but having said that heโ€™s not jumping out of his seat to take the fightโ€ฆ Heโ€™s got decent backing in Bulgaria and Germany, perhaps heโ€™s happy to take a fifth of the money to defend his European title?โ€

Hearn is hoping to arrange Parker versus David Price and Dillian Whyte versus Dereck Chisora for the November 26 undercard.

Price and Parker both seem happy to fight. โ€œI think thatโ€™s the one thatโ€™s okay. The problem is Chisora, thatโ€™s going to be a problem,โ€ the promoter said. โ€œIf Chisora wants some stupid number for that fight obviously itโ€™s not going to get made. If heโ€™s sensible and wants to make a nice few quid for the fight, it can get made.”

Hearn continued, โ€œIf we both turn round to them [Parker] and said letโ€™s do the Joshua fight, they canโ€™t really say no but I think Parker against Joshua could be a really big fight but we need to build him here first. If he [Parker] knocks Price out, that fight becomes really big, if Price knocks Parker out that fight becomes really big and we need to build the opponents as time goes on,โ€ Hearn explained. โ€œWhen it comes down to it, they [opponents generally] either donโ€™t want to fight or they want to price themselves out. Parkerโ€™s team are quite sensible in that they want to improve and when they fight Joshua they want to be a better fighter than they are now, so thatโ€™s why theyโ€™re fighting [Alexander] Dimitrenko, theyโ€™re open to fighting Price and then theyโ€™ll fight Joshua.โ€

Share Page