Eddie Hearn has hinted that a prospective heavyweight tournament in Saudi Arabia is only being hindered by Tyson Fury.
According to reports, a four-man tournament is being lined up in December, with Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder and Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk being considered.
There is a belief that the winner of each bout would then face each other. And as part of that process, Hearn has allegedly met with Prince Khaled, the Chairman of Skills Challenge Entertainment, in order to bring it about.
Eddie Hearn's omission of Tyson Fury speaks volumes amid tournament talkshttps://t.co/SLIqUvqpjl pic.twitter.com/sA5PrtGQPf
— Mirror Fighting (@MirrorFighting) May 3, 2023
And by the looks of it, there is only one obstacle, as Fury’s name was not even mentioned by Hearn.
After all, Hearn is well aware of trying to deal with Fury as talks of a fight with Joshua broke down, as the ‘Gypsy King’ faced Dereck Chisora instead.
“Talks were good, I think from the Usyk and Wilder conversations have gone very well, for us we are in. We need to finalise terms but we just said to Prince Khaled that’s the fight we want.
“Having worked with them before, we know that we can get a deal done and that’s what we are looking to do this and next week,” Hearn
Much in the same way, Alex Krassyuk, Usyk’s promoter, made it clear that Fury was difficult to deal with. This should not come as a surprise, given the manner in which the Fury vs Usyk talks broke down.
Despite the Ukrainian agreeing to a 70-30 split against him, an agreement could not be made.
“Joshua is not a very complicated person to deal with. Deontay Wilder and Shelley Finkel are very reasonable people.
“So there’s only one thing still pending and it’s a complex personality who goes back and forth, playing his games to try and squeeze as much money as possible. That was the reason why Usyk called him greedy belly,” Krassyuk