Hearn: AJ Still Runs Heavyweight Division
While the boxing world and the mainstream may still be talking about Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury’s 12 round draw on December 1st, Matchroom Sport founder Barry Hearn asserts they still run the heavyweight division.
When asked about his fighter’s top choices, Hearn claimed Wilder is at the top because he has an actual belt. “AJ’s first choice is Wilder because when you’re collecting belts, which he is, he wants to be the unified champ, Heran told Alan Brazil on his show on Talk Sport. “He’d love to fight Fury as well, but for now I think Wilder is the one he wants. There’s three or four options at the minute for us. Sooner or later fight fans are going to get everything they want, but we won’t be doing any silly deals – that’s for sure.”
“There’s a lot to talk about. This business is about money at the end of the day. It’s not totally out of the window (Joshua and Fury) but look they didn’t sell out the Staples Center and the numbers were relatively low in regards to pay-per-view. If they did a rematch of course it would be much bigger and the prospect increases (of them fighting AJ).
Hearn claims that Pay Per View is not the promised land, a fight against Anthony Joshua is. “When they get to the promised land, the land of milk and honey, that’s when they fight Anthony Joshua, the longtime promoter said to Brazil. “So both of them need to stop kidding themselves. We’d love the fight against either of them – it would be great for fight fans. AJ wants to be fighting the best, but not on silly terms. At the end of AJ is the best heavyweight in the world, and commercially heads and shoulders above the rest.
“We call the shots at the end of the day – we have AJ. I’m sorry but if you go to work and you’re not happy with your wages, you’ll probably change your job and look for a better deal. Being the size of the company we are and having the assets Anthony Joshua has and we have collectively – it means we don’t do silly deals. We don’t listen to people who say ‘you’ve got to do this’. We haven’t got to do anything. I have to wake up in the morning and I try to stay up until I go to bed at night – they are the only two things I have to do.”
Quotes Transcribed by Boxing Scene