Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn takes a few minutes to chat about his thoughts on the Wilder-Fury fight and how he prioritizes fights against both of them for Anthony Joshua. Check it out...
Hearn on his thoughts about the Wilder-Fury fight:
“I thought Fury won the fight. I thought he won by two rounds. So whilst I guess you can argue a draw, because on my scorecard if one round’s a different way it’s a draw, I didn’t see it as a draw. I had Fury winning the fight. 115-111 Wilder was a joke — don’t see how this is even possible.
“The knockdown was so dramatic. He’s really good, Fury, at riding shots and he was even riding the shots on the way down. If you watch the left hook — the right hand wasn’t, it was big but it wasn’t huge — but the left hook, he almost sees it coming and goes backwards with it. I’m interested to know if he was out or not. He says he was, I don’t think he was. But it was so dramatic...and a lot of people wouldn’t have got up.”
On if he was impressed by Fury’s chin:
“I don’t think he got hit as flush as WIlder would’ve like to have hit him in the fight...but that’s because it’s hard to hit Fury flush. Wasn’t bad luck, it’s because Fury’s skill. He’s a great mover and it’s hard to nail him. But Fury proved me wrong, not just once now, twice. He did it against Klitschko and he did it against Wilder. I gotta give him a lot of credit, I give him a lot of respect — not just for getting up, and actually not just for winning the fight — but actually getting himself in position for that fight.
“I still think AJ beats him everyday of the week, and I believe he demolishes Deontay Wilder — who I think has actually shown himself as not quite as good as people think he is, but a big puncher.”
On if he thinks Wilder’s stock has dropped after that fight:
“I don’t think his stock’s dropped because I think the event in itself raised his stock. But it was a poor performance and everyone thought he lost. So I don’t think his stock has grown dramatically enough for him to say — that’s why people ask me, saying ‘is it good or bad for you and AJ?’ And I think in the Wilder negotiations it’s very good in the fact that if he would’ve won easy and looked sensational he would’ve said ‘I want this, I want that,’ and if he would’ve got beat we couldn’t have had the fight because he had a rematch clause.
“But also, they’ve got a rematch, which could happen, which is a big fight, which they could do that instead of fighting AJ. So our priority is to fight Wilder ‘cause AJ wants to be undisputed champion. AJ would secretly like to fight Fury, but he does want the belts. He wants a legacy. But he’s gonna fight everybody. He’s gonna be around for five or six years so he ain’t going nowhere but fans want it now. And that’s my job. We must give em. Really, it would be disappointing if we don’t get Wilder or Fury next.”
On which fight between Wilder and Fury would do bigger business:
“Wilder. The U.S. TV money, the international TV money, is much more significant. It kinda does the same numbers in the U.K., because there’s only so many numbers you can do if that makes sense. But there’s a lot more international money, a lot more U.S. money for the Wilder fight. But listen, both are huge fights. But like I said, if it’s just about the men, I think Joshua would probably wanna fight Fury. But if it’s about what it is about, which is legacy and becoming the undisputed champion, he wants to fight Wilder next.
“I think if you ask the British fight fans now, who you want Joshua to face, the winner would be Fury. I think internationally it would be kinda split. If you ask the Americans I think they would want him to fight Wilder. But it doesn’t really matter if it’s Wilder of Fury, he wants the WBC title, he wants to be the undisputed champion. Once he’s achieved that, it’s done. All bets are off. Then you go into the fights that you want, the legacy fights, the fights the fans want.
“I mean, I don’t think the fans would be disappointed if he fights Wilder next for the undisputed heavyweight championship. But, there is a big demand now for Joshua-Fury and that’s a massive fight by the way. Great fight that will happen.”