‘That will be another defeat on his record’: Promoter Bob Arum hits out at Eddie Hearn for pushing Anthony Joshua into a rematch with Oleksandr Usyk as he says new world champion should face winner of Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder
- Anthony Joshua lost wis heavyweight world titles to Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday
- The 31-year-old was outclassed during a one-sided defeat in North London
- AJ intends on facing Usyk a second time, despite warnings from fans and pundits
- Bob Arum believes the Brit would be foolish to demand an immediate rematch
Legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum believes Eddie Hearn is making a mistake pushing Anthony Joshua into an immediate rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.
Usyk silenced the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday with a boxing masterclass to claim the WBO, WBA, IBF and IBO world titles from his British rival.
It has since emerged that there is a rematch clause in AJ and Usyk’s pre-fight agreement, yet the dominant nature of Usyk’s victory has left many fans and pundits adamant that Joshua has little chance of reclaiming his belts from the Ukrainian.
Bob Arum believes Anthony Joshua would be making a mistake having an immediate rematch
And Arum, who represents Tyson Fury, thinks Joshua and his team would be wise to let Usyk first face the winner of Fury’s trilogy bout with Deontay Wilder.
‘Eddie Hearn being Eddie Hearn, who is all ego, won’t listen to something that makes sense,’ said Bob Arum to iFL TV on him, believing Hearn won’t agree to let Joshua step aside so that Fury can face Usyk next.
‘He [Hearn] will push, which he can legally, the rematch with Usyk, and that will be an additional defeat on Joshua’s record and prevent him from what I think will be a massive fight against the unified champion.
‘Usyk fights Tyson Fury or [Deontay] Wilder and then fights the winner. Then we’re into something that the public can make sense of,’ Arum said.
Fury and Wilder are set to meet for a third time in Las Vegas on October 9.
The 31-year-old was outclassed during a one-sided defeat in North London on Saturday