Eddie Hearn still plans on getting Anthony Joshua a fight on August 12th, 2023, despite the lack of news over his next bout.
Joshua’s plan was to have another fight in the summer following his win over Jermaine Franklin in order to prepare for a potential mega fight with Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia.
A fight of such magnitude would require the best preparation since Joshua has only had one fight with his trainer, Derrick James.
A rematch with Dillian Whyte was being lined up, but that is now out of the question. The major stumbling block appears to be a financial one, with Whyte reportedly demanding £10 million for the fight.
That figure has been dismissed by Hearn even if money was the issue.
“Dillian never asked for 10 million for that fight. We did make him an offer, and the answer was, ‘That’s not near enough money,’ but he never asked for 10 million for that fight. I believe that fight is not going to be next for Anthony Joshua.
“As you know, we’re trying to close a fight this week. There are two or three opponents we’re looking at.
“I’m not going to tell you who they are, but we need to do it this week because the Saudis definitely don’t want us to fight in August, but we want to fight in August. I think it’ll be good for his career to fight in August. So that is still the plan,” Hearn
Fighting Whyte would have been a big risk, as a defeat would ended any potential chances of the Wilder fight. Despite this being the case, Hearn is still keen on having Joshua fight in August.
“The plan is still August 12 but we absolutely have to nail that down this week. We’re talking to a number of opponents right now. We’ll be doing everything we can to make sure he fights August 12.
“The Saudi conversations are ongoing. We’re closing in, I’m very confident that fight happens with Deontay Wilder. Our main priority now is to nail August 12 if he’s going to fight,” Hearn