Hearn disappointed Joshua vs Fury fight not taking place in UK
British boxing promoter Eddie Hearn is disappointed that the much-anticipated fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury will not take place in the United Kingdom despite contract terms stating that the encounter should be staged in the country.
Hearn who was speaking as a guest on the Bad Left Hook podcast on Wednesday said that it seems like everybody is adamant that the fight between the two Britons will now take place in New York, USA due to the preference of the sponsors of the boxing showdown.
He disclosed that his camp wanted the fight to take place in the UK but the organising broadcaster Netflix and fight sponsor, Turki Alalshikh are both stopping at nothing to ensure that the fight eventually takes place in the USA.
According to Hearn, there is confusion as to why the sponsors of the match-up want the fight to take place in the US while the contract stipulates that the fight should take place in the UK.
He said; “It seems like everybody is adamant that the fight takes place in New York,” Hearn said. “I mean, there isn’t really any consideration, there’s no willingness to speak to the government, Sadiq Khan, Transport for London. It’s just like ‘we want to do this fight in America.’ Tyson Fury has agreed to do it in America, and we haven’t at the moment.
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“So we’re talking through a roadmap of what that might look like, to change the deal, and if they do all the thing that we discussed and agreed in principle, then I think there’s a very good chance the fight will happen in America. We’ll be disappointed but I can’t sit here and say to you — it’s like everything falls on deaf ears, right?
“You signed a contract to do the fight in England. Why don’t you do it in England?…‘No, Netflix want it in America. No, Turki Alalshikh wants it in America. No, no, no, no.’ So, our conversations are like ‘okay, well if you want it in America, this is what we’d like to change within the contract and you agree to that, we got a fight.”
However, Hearn who is miffed that there hasn’t even been a conversation about the UK said that there would be no need to change the contract, the venue or host country but there will be an opportunity to iron out issues if the organisers are desperate for it.
“We don’t want to change the contract. We don’t want to change the venue or the host country, but we will talk to you — if you’re that desperate for it, we’ll try to find a way to help, but it’s disappointing. But it is what it is. It’s been going on for a month and they haven’t changed their mind and there hasn’t even been a conversation about the UK.” He concluded.
