By: Sean Crose
Although many will take the news with a grain of salt, Matchroom Boxing honcho Eddie Hearn has declared that the beyond long long awaited heavyweight championship bout between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua is set to go down in August in Saudi Arabia. “August the seventh, August the fourteenth,” Hearn told Sky Sports Television Tuesday. “I think it’s a very bad secret that the fight is happening in Saudi Arabia.” Hearn, who is Joshua’s promoter, went on to provide some details regarding the promotion for the Fury fight.
“It’s the same people we did the deal with for Andy Ruiz,” he said. “We’re very comfortable. Anthony’s comfortable. He knows those people. They delivered on every one of their promises last time. We’re ready to go.” Hearn, who has teamed up with Fury’s promoters, Bob Arum and Frank Warren, appears to be the one doing the lion’s share of the work here, at least when it comes to landing the fight in Saudi Arabia. Still, the glacial pace at which the bout is being made has frustrated many. Warren has declared that “we can’t go on forever with this.” Meanwhile Joshua himself directed a Tweet at Fury on Monday.
“Spartan.” I’m tired. My fans are tired. Your fans are tired. We’re all tired of the talk. Less talk. More action!” Fury subsequently responded by tweeting: “come get some then you big ugly Dosser???? YOUR NO TALK NO ACTION.” The good news here is that it’s clear each man wants the fight to happen. There’s also strong interest among boxing’s fan base to see the first undisputed heavyweight champion in ages. Right now, Fury holds the WBC and lineal crowns while Joshua is in possession of the WBA, IBF and WBO belts. The winner of a fight between the two would be the unquestioned king of boxing’s big men.
Major bouts are so hard to make these days, however, that sometimes the public seems to give up on the hope of them ever happening. This, for instance, seems to be the case with welterweight titlists Errol Spence and Terence Crawford. Theirs was a once highly anticipated match that much of boxing’s fandom has now essentially given up on happening. The fact that Spence and Crawford fight in the same division legends Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns held titles in speaks volumes about the state of the cotemporary fight game. For Leonard and Hearns fought an all time classic for divisional supremacy, where the suspicion among many now is that Spence and Crawford aren’t going to fight at all.
