Eddie Hearn says TKO tried to buy Anthony Joshua directly, and it backfired.
Joshua and Tyson Fury signed in April for a November fight. The venue has held it up ever since. Joshua’s contract says Britain. Fury’s side and Netflix want Madison Square Garden. Hearn told DAZN on Saturday, after Katie Taylor’s retirement fight, what happened on Friday.
Yesterday [Friday], TKO went around the back again to try and offer Joshua money to do the fight in America. It’s a dirty, dirty game, mate, to be honest with you. It’s made it even harder for them now because Joshua ain’t about that. ‘You’ve got an hour and a half to make your decision.’
He says the answer was short.
‘Like, mate, what don’t you understand? I signed to fight in Britain. I want the fight in Britain.’ You can’t buy everybody. Especially the ones who it means something to. And you know the crazy thing is, the more support AJ’s getting because of his desire to stage the fight in Britain, the more determined it’s making him to do it.
Hearn puts the whole delay on TKO’s involvement.
If they had never gotten involved in the first place, the fight would already be announced and signed. They are the ones that are trying to bring this fight to America. They are the ones that are basically saying to British fight fans, ‘We don’t give a —-. We don’t care about British fight fans. We want to do the fight in America, because that’s where we’re from.’
Matchroom has taken it further than words.
We’ve already written to them. But it’s like, ‘What are you doing? You’re on the New York Stock Exchange. What is this? Like just coming around the back and trying to bank someone a few quid?’ C’mon. It doesn’t got to be like that. But it’s pushing the fight farther away because of their behavior.
Fury sees it the other way. He has acknowledged the fight was signed for London but is content to go to New York, and has credited Dana White and TKO with getting it over the line.
He has also stopped waiting. Fury posted a video on Sunday calling out Oleksandr Usyk for a third fight in November instead, saying the ball is now in Usyk’s court. Usyk’s advisor Serhii Lapin said last week that a Fury trilogy would only be considered after the Deontay Wilder fight the team is targeting for March 2027.
