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'PRIDE & MONEY'
Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua showdown must take place in next 18 months or it may NEVER happen, says Barry Hearn
BARRY HEARN says a mega fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury must happen within the next 18 months – or it may never take place at all.
SunSport is serialising the autobiography of popular promoter Hearn, who has been at the forefront of British sport for 45 years, this week.
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The company that Hearn built from scratch – Matchroom Sport – manages the interests of former world boxing champion Joshua.
AJ, 32, is planning to face Oleksandr Usyk in July in a rematch to regain the WBA, WBO and IBF belts he lost to Ukrainian last September in Tottenham.
Yet Hearn feels the fight that everybody wants to see – a super-bout between the two leading British heavyweights of this golden era – has a limited shelf life.
Hearn, 73, said: “I believe it will happen. I believe the inevitability of what is being created, the demand for those fights, means eventually it has to happen.
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“I just don’t know when. We should have had it already.
“But then we said that about Mayweather-Pacquiao and Khan-Brook for years and it happened 4-5 years too late.
“I think Joshua v Fury will happen. Pride and money will make sure it does.
“The money they are earning is so vast that sooner or later getting punched in the face isn’t so appealing. However much money is involved.
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“I’d imagine it should happen in the next 12-18 months – if it doesn’t I don’t think it will ever happen.
“Of course, these people won’t be rushing to the retirement home for the next few years.
“We are creating a group that is similar to what we saw in the American days of Ali-Frazier-Foreman-Spinks.”
WBC world champion Fury, 33, takes on Dillian Whyte on Wembley on Saturday April 23 and Hearn says it is not necessarily a formality for the Gypsy King.
Hearn said: “Whyte is the outsider. He has a chance. Fury is a clever fighter.
“If Whyte can turn this into a street fight, he will win. If it turns into a Tyson Fury fight, which he is clever to do, then he’ll outbox him over 12 rounds and wins comfortably on points.
“It’s not a 50-50. It’s a 65-35 fight with Fury the favourite. But a 50-1 shot just won the Grand National! So Whyte has more than a squeak in this.”
is published on April 28 and available to pre-order now (Hodder & Stoughton, £20)
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