Eddie Hearn is worried that the career of Anthony Joshua could be derailed by the crafty former undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in September.
“This is a fight that could derail the career of Joshua if he’s not on it if he’s not 100 percent,” Hearn said to Sky Sports about AJ’s title defense against Usyk in September.
“AJ needs to be ruthless. He needs to show the [ruthlessness of] Derek Chisora with more cuteness and sharpness,” Hearn continued.
“Usyk just wants the fight. He wants the opportunity to become heavyweight champion,” Hearn said.
“[Joshua] loves the fight. We all know it’s tricky. We all know it’s difficult. But what else are we going to do?
“AJ wants to make a statement; these are the fights that he likes,” said Hearn.
Eddie is dead-on correct about Usyk potentially derailing Joshua’s career. If AJ loses the fight, he’ll be stuck facing Usyk in a rematch with his career literally hanging by a thread.
A second loss for Joshua against Usyk would effectively end his career in the same Larry Holmes’ career was finished by the much smaller Michael Spinks in 1986.
“We’re moving on to Anthony Joshua fighting the former undisputed cruiserweight king, who everyone is afraid of fighting and think that AJ isn’t going to fight,” said Frank Smith of Matchroom Boxing to iFL TV.
“It’s a big fight in its own right. We’d been hoping to make the undisputed heavyweight championship.
“Everyone got their hopes up for that. AJ’s career is the most important thing right now to make sure he doesn’t lose momentum, and he keeps fighting.
“Hopefully news on that soon, but massive fight [Joshua vs. Usyk]. I think Tyson Fury has got a tough test with Deontay Wilder.
“If Wilder beats Fury, then AJ will fight Wilder. He wants to become the undisputed heavyweight champion.
“First things first, he’s got to get past Usyk, and I truly believe he does that in great fashion. Our aim still is to make the biggest fights.
“The undisputed fight, whoever that is against, that’ll be our aim. AJ is the king of the heavyweight division.
“He’s the biggest star, and he’ll continue to show that with a sold-out crowd in September, provided we can have sold-out crowds,” said Frank Smith.
Joshua should have never taken the time to negotiate with Fury in the first place, given that he was still dealing with his arbitration case against Fury.