Anthony Joshua after losing to Daniel Dubois (Image: undefined)
Eddie Hearn has revealed that stayed silent following ‘s retirement revelation.
Boxing fans were taken aback on Monday when the ‘Gypsy King’ announced his departure from the boxing scene, after his loss to Oleksandr Usyk last month. Fury stated, “Hi everybody, I’m going to make this short and sweet,” adding, “I’d like to announce my retirement from boxing, it has been a blast, I’ve loved every single minute of it and I’m going to end with this; Dick Turpin wore a mask.”
The much-anticipated battle between Fury and Joshua, which had the potential to generate a whopping £150million for each fighter, looks increasingly unlikely following both their challenging defeats; Joshua suffered a knockout by Daniel Dubois in September. Despite the setback from Fury’s announcement, Matchroom head honcho Hearn suggested that Joshua is unperturbed and singularly concentrated on redeeming his status this year.
Repsonding to Fury’s sudden , Hearn remarked: “Listen, one… we don’t really take it too seriously. Two… if it is serious there’s nothing we can do about it anyway. What do you think goes on, do you think Josh is going to phone me up and go, ‘Oh Ed have you seen the news mate’. He’s not that kind of guy.”
The boxing promoter revealed that he hasn’t heard from Joshua since the recent announcement, stating: “Not one,” and elaborated on the possible reasons, saying: “He could have been doing it because he’s got the ump. He could have been doing it for some attention. He could have been doing it because it’s true. What’s the point in guessing.”
In another discussion, Hearn expressed his suspicion that Fury’s retirement announcement might be a ploy to secure a better deal. “I’m not going to accuse him of not being genuine but I think you get a better deal coming out of retirement or maybe he just hasn’t got the stomach for it anymore,” he commented.
“He got beat twice and has had enough. I doubt it but who knows. I don’t know him well enough to know but maybe he’s done.” Hearn also shared his intuition about the future, adding: “My gut feeling is we see AJ against Fury this summer. But, maybe he’s for real. I cannot believe that he would check out without doing that fight. But if he genuinely isn’t enjoying it anymore, he should retire.”