In an interview with Fight Hub TV, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn talks about yesterday’s press conference between Anthony Joshua and Jarrell Miller. Check out what he had to say...
Hearn on the London press conference:
“Interesting head-to-head. It’s nice to see AJ with a bit of spite. You know, sometimes I think the response is ‘oh, he always says the same thing’ but he mentions in the press conference that he likes to be a decent person. He likes to try to be an ambassador for the sport and a role model, but he’s still that kid from the street — that when you press his buttons, you see the reaction. And some of his comments today, you don’t really hear him say that kind of thing.”
“...I think AJ just wants to knock him out. He wants to, like he said, ‘reconstruct his face’ — which these are the kind of things you don’t often hear him saying, but that’s how he feels. He doesn’t respect Miller and he wants to knock him out, which I think is good news for people watching.
“It’s a good fight. Look, you know, we couldn’t get — obviously Wilder-Fury down to fight each other, Dillian Whyte fight didn’t happen. So then we move on. What we gonna do? Well we’re gonna go sell out the MSG against an American in his backyard who can fight, who can talk, it’s the perfect thing to do.
“And actually, everyday that passes, especially being out of New York last week, this is starting to look like a great, great move. And the yanks are gonna love him and this is gonna be a big, big night for him.”
On his initial preference of having Joshua fight in the UK and if he thinks fighting in America will make any difference:
“Yeah, the little things: time zones, commissions, like when you’re in the change room and you’ve got different people coming in and out...it’s just a different kind of experience, different environment. He’s professional enough to deal with all that, but it’s just that — when you’re as regimented as AJ is, little things can just throw you off a little bit. So that is a challenge as well, other than Miller. But, you know, I think it’s a challenge that he’ll overcome.”
On his thoughts about the DeGale-Eubank Jr. fight:
“I followed it all on social. The first reaction was ‘Thank God we didn’t do it’ because we would’ve been absolutely rinsed for it. Imagine the stick we would’ve got. I knew DeGale was well past his best but I started to talk myself into the fact that maybe he still had enough to deal with Eubank. Apparently Eubank did well and DeGale was, no disrespect to him, but awful.
“I think James was just sort of holding and surviving by the sound of it.”