Eddie Hearn, who has attempted to deal with Tyson Fury previously in the past in regards to him fighting Matchroom’s premier heavyweight in the form of Anthony Joshua, has spoken of his concern regarding this week’s developments with Fury.
Fury, WBC heavyweight world champion, will face former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou on October 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The contest will be held under boxing rules and will feature the traditional three judges, and the contest has had the blessing of the WBC to go ahead without Fury being stripped of his heavyweight world title.
The move was announced earlier this week by Top Rank & Queensberry promotions and has left observers of the sport speechless, concerned but has gained momentum within the popular press.
Oleksandr Usyk, unified world heavyweight champion, had been hoping for all of 2023 that a deal could finally be agreed upon for him to face Fury in an undisputed heavyweight showdown needed by the sport. However, those talks had collapsed regarding an encounter which would have taken place on April 29.
There had been rumours and suggestions on who Fury would fight instead and even saw domestic rival Anthony Joshua’s name mentioned. An offer had been put to Joshua last month but was swiftly rejected as Joshua was on the verge of signing to fight Dillian Whyte alongside a provisional deal to fight Deontay Wilder in December/January in Saudi Arabia.
Hearn feels the contest between Fury, and Ngannou is ultimately bad for boxing. This is despite Hearn previously exploring options for Joshua to face Ngannou in recent years and calling the prospect of Fury-Ngannou “Terrible.”
“I took the (Ngannou) fight to AJ,” Hearn said in an interview with FightHype.com. “He wasn’t interested. But I knew that there was a chance that [Ngannou] could fight someone. I think it’s terrible for boxing because obviously there was a chance to make the undisputed fight (between Fury and Usyk).
“I understand the business side. I just feel like you should just be honest, like, ‘We have a chance to make a load of money for an easy fight. We’re gonna do that instead.’ And I don’t think anyone would begrudge it. MMA fans seem to be quite happy with it because I think they like Ngannou securing the bag, but boxing fans seem to be furious. There’s been so many back and forths with Tyson Fury, and I think some things he said people now look at say, I understand he’s a great fighter, great character, and I don’t begrudge him for making a lot of money for an easy fight.”
As a competitive spectacle, Hearn does not hold any high hopes for Ngannou despite the Frechman’s striking ability.
“You could do this fight a million times, and he wouldn’t win once,” Hearn said. “I’m being serious. That’s the reality. You’re talking about the world heavyweight champion against someone who has never boxed in a professional fight. But they’ll tell you how hard Francis punches, and he used to be a boxer and stuff like that.”
