Barry Hearn believes a bout between Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul would be more massive than a potential all-British heavyweight showdown with Tyson Fury.
Joshua hasn’t stepped into the ring since his crushing knockout loss to Daniel Dubois last September. A clash with Fury appeared on the horizon after the ‘Gypsy King’ endured consecutive defeats to Oleksandr Usyk. Just weeks following his second loss to the Ukrainian, the Morecambe brawler announced his retirement from boxing.
However, mere months later, Fury confirmed his comeback to competitive boxing and is targeting a bout next year, reports All Out Fighting. The 36-year-old remains open to facing Joshua – but may have to get in line as it appears ‘AJ’ could take on Paul instead. The duo have exchanged verbal jabs over recent months and have verbally committed to a dust-up.
Whilst fans are desperate to witness Joshua and Fury finally clash in the ring, Hearn has explained precisely why he believes a fight between ‘AJ’ and Paul would be bigger. Speaking to IFL TV, he said: “I do not really have an opinion, I listen to the market! If a market says they want that product, you bring out that product. If the market says we love darts, then I would do lots of darts events.
“If the market says we want to see Anthony Joshua against the YouTuber or whatever his you want to call him… an influencer, the market have spoken. And anyone in business that does not listen to the market, do not stay in business very long.” When questioned about which bout would be ‘bigger’ between Joshua vs Fury or Joshua vs Paul, Hearn responded: “Probably the latter. But, I am not saying it should be, I am just saying it is the world we live in and everyone has the ability to ignore reality, but it never seems to really make sense at the end of the day.
“You have to listen to what people want. We are not governing our own destiny here, we listen to broadcasters, to fans, to sponsors, and we have to go where we have to go. If that does not appeal to what I call the traditionalists within boxing, of which, at a maximum, is five per cent of your audience… the day you run a business based on five per cent opinion, you will be out of business very quickly.”
Speaking to DAZN before Oleksandr Usyk’s clash with Daniel Dubois, Paul virtually guaranteed that he would step into the ring with Joshua next year. “Yeah 100 per cent it’s going to happen. We’re going to do the unthinkable and create one of the biggest fights in the history of boxing,” he said.
“It’s not even about it being realistic or not, it’s going to happen so fasten your seatbelts. And when I knock him out I’ll go down in the history books forever.”
