Caption: Kwara United's Michael Ohano, shields the ball from an opponent.
Speaking after Callum Smith’s loss to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in Texas, Hearn revealed that contracts are being drawn up for the huge heavyweight showdown with only a few minor details to sort out.
Mike Coppinger of The Athletic acquired the quotes from Hearn and it seems as though the venue and things like who walks out last on the night are still on the table.
“Eddie Hearn says Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua is verbally agreed to and contracts are being drafted for the heavyweight championship fight in May/June. Hearn says only “minor issues to resolve” such as who walks last, the site, etc. This fight is going to happen next,” Coppinger tweeted.
If one of the most points of debate is who walks out last, that’s good news for boxing fans hoping to see this fight. This should be easy to come to terms.
Coppinger went on to suggest that the fight is likely heading to the Middle East, although the UK is ‘still in play.’
It’s hard to see the UK as an option when the south-east of England – including London – just entered tier four in a bid to handle a new fast-spreading strain of the Coronavirus.
Meanwhile at Smith and Alvarez, 15,000 fans were in attendance for the fight.
Oleksandr Usyk has already expressed an interest in stepping aside as WBO mandatory so AJ and Fury can make the fight and it seems as though he would do so on the premise that he would face the winner.
All the belts are an attractive proposition for everyone, but we’re yet to hear what Deontay Wilder thinks of the developments as he did have a contractually obligated third fight with Fury for the WBC title.
"Absolutely,' Tyson said to the possibility of returning under similar circumstances. 'I hope (Jones) will be on the card as well. We gotta do this again."
Despite the draw, Tyson looked in phenomenal shape as the former heavyweight king rolled back the years with an impressive performance.
The 54-year-old had Jones Jr, 51, on the back foot for most of the contest, boxing from the outside in an attempt to slow Tyson down. The former four-weight champion said he too would like to fight again.
"Dude is so strong man,' Captain Hook said after the contest. 'When he hits you, to the head, punches to the body shots, everything hurts. I'm cool with a draw, we just might have to do it again.
"We've got to do this again, everybody loves Mike, I love Mike too but it's something else taking punches from Mike.
"I'll go talk to my family, see how they feel about it and if they want to do it again, we'll do it again."
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Caption:
Tyson after the clash with Roy Jones Jr last weekend.
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Caption:
A player of Shakhtar Donetsk, celebrates one of the goals against Real Madrid, on Tuesday night in a Champions League clash.
Former cruiserweight champion, Glenn McCrory, has claimed he and four-time heavyweight boxing champion, Evander Holyfield, have agreed terms on a sensational bare knuckle boxing bout.
The 56-year-old, who was the IBF world title holder from 1989 to 1990, McCrory shared a post on Twitter with a poster depicting the pair and branded with a Bare Knuckle Boxing trademark.
Under the headline 'Legends Return' pictures of the pair back int their prime, along with pictures of the pair today, seem to show an air of legitimacy.
Challenged on whether it was true or not, McCrory replied to those who were skeptical as to the veracity of the claim, after posting his own tagline which read 'Now or Never'.
Replying to TV and Radio presenter Adam Catterall, when asked if the bout was real,
McCrory replied: '100 per cent''.
The Sky Sports pundit then assured another Twitter user that the promotion poster was 'no joke'.
As yet, Holyfield has not made any post of his own, or acknowledged an agreement with McCrory.
Holyfield, who is 58, has long documented his attempts to get back into the ring, and has
teamed up with the likes of Wladimir Klitschko in a bid to regain his shape.
The boxing legend has been a regular poster to social media, updating followers on his return to fitness and has even teased the possibility of a rematch with Mike Tyson.
Tyson himself made his long-anticipated return to the ring on Saturday night, when he drew with Roy Jones Jr in an exhibition bout in Los Angeles.
His performance was such that there have even been claims made that Tyson could make
a shock return to the realms of title bouts.
Former world heavyweight champion George Foreman said: "If he gets in shape like he's in
now, gets his timing back, and all the other things fall into place, he can have an
opportunity to fight for the title.
"If he can be managed right, the right champion will come to him. And if the right one
comes, he can knock him out."
A man in Kenya lost his life at Kinamba Centre along the Naivasha-Kirima Road, after allegedly mocking Arsenal fans after their 2-1 loss at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers FC last weekend.
In the absence of their top scorer Raul Jimenez who was injured earlier on, Wolves scored
through Pedro Neto and, although Gabriel briefly headed Arsenal level, the visitors claimed a deserved three points through Daniel Podence's superbly taken 42nd-minute winner.
It was a third straight loss at home for the 13-time English champions.
"The middle-aged man was hit on the head with a stone when he started mocking supporters of [Arsenal after the loss]," The Standard Newspaper reported.
"The group was watching the live match that was being aired on television when the incident occurred on Sunday night.
"The deceased was left bleeding from his head outside a petrol station located a few meters from the bar that the friends were drinking."
A witness who has been identified as Peter, went on to explain what transpired between those involved before the unfortunate incident.
"[The argument] degenerated into name-calling and the deceased was chased out of the bar and later attacked and left unconscious," he revealed.
Police have now launched a manhunt for those involved in the incident. The result moves Wolves up to sixth on the table, with Arsenal languishing 14th on the table.
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Caption:
David Luiz (left), battles for the ball with a Wolves player, during the EPL clash at the Emirates last Sunday.
Reigning WBC champion, Tyson Fury, has received support from the World Boxing Council
president, Mauricio Sulaiman in his pursuit of an undisputed world title fight against Anthony Joshua.
The British rivals want to fight for all the world heavyweight belts next year, provided that they overcome current challenges inside and outside the ring.
Joshua defends his WBA, IBF and WBO belts against Kubrat Pulev on December 12, while
Fury has entered a mediation process over a disputed third fight with Deontay Wilder.
Sulaiman has given his backing for Fury to face Joshua.
"There's absolutely great hope from the world to see that undisputed fight.
"Tyson Fury is our champion, our pride. Anthony Joshua holds the other belts and he has been a tremendous asset to the sport. A gentleman, a great career.
"To see this showdown, Fury-Joshua, would be tremendous for everyone in the sport of
boxing. We will absolutely support it," he told Sky Sports.
"The WBC has no blocks right now. There is no mandatory contender. There is an issue
that we are aware that Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder have some sort of mediation process going on and that's the only thing, but we don't have any details.
"We're just hoping that everything gets resolved and everybody is happy and we see great fights inside the ring."
Dillian Whyte's status as the WBC mandatory challenger was ended by a knockout loss to Alexander Povetkin, with a rematch set to be rescheduled in January, and an official ruling is yet to be made by the WBC on whether the winner will line up a title shot.
Fury has final say on Joshua fight?
Fury's expected homecoming clash against Agit Kabayel this month was called off amid the
ongoing dispute with Wilder.
Fury's list of opponents is laughable in comparison to Joshua, says Eddie Hearn
Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn insists he remains eager to arrange a massive showdown with Fury, if his fighter makes a successful title defence against Pulev.
"Listen, it's completely over to them," Hearn has told Sky Sports. "We have the dynamics of the deal in place.
"I don't want to hear [from] Fury: 'No, I'm thinking about fighting in March or April'.
"Why? Just go straight into the AJ fight.
"It's going to be the same timeframe.
"[Fury] boxed in February. It's not like he's been out and he didn't box in 2020.
"Listen, Fury doesn't want to take a small fight. They couldn't even get the money together to give him a fight in December, so let's give him plenty of money. Let's give him the biggest fight."
Sulaiman has suggested that Wilder will remain in contention for another world title shot,
despite his stoppage loss to Fury in February.
"Wilder is a tremendous, important element," Sulaiman told Sky Sports.
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Caption:
Joshua (right), during his heavyweight rematch with Andy Ruiz Jnr, Joshua won by unanimous to retain his WBA, IBF, WBO titles.
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Caption: Djokovic set for Sunday's French Open showdown.
Anthony Joshua’s fight with Kubrat Pulev will go ahead this year irrespective of the announcement that fans cannot return to sporting events from October.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn had been working in the hope that the heavyweight world title fight would take place on December 12 at The O2 in front of upwards of 5,000 spectators as part of the phased reintegration of crowds at live sport.
However, it is increasingly likely that any fight would need to be staged in front of zero fans following the confirmation on Tuesday from Prime Minister Boris Johnson that large events will remain closed due to the rise in coronavirus cases.
Despite the hefty financial implications of having no gate income to pay a fighter whose purses top eight figures, Hearn is adamant all his scheduled shows will go ahead.
He told Sportsmail: "Obviously today’s announcement is a massive challenge for everyone in sport.
"Our intention now is carry on with all our scheduled events. Clearly the finances are affected by not having crowds, even smaller crowds, but we’re working to keep our schedule. That includes Joshua.
"You have two options - cancel or go ahead, quite possibly without a crowd. You’d still hope that by December you might have some back but you can’t plan on that now.
"We’ll go ahead in December for Joshua because it’s been a year since he fought Andy Ruiz and he needs to fight."
Hearn is still working on the basis that the fight will be at The O2, despite foreign interest in staging Joshua’s defence of his IBF, WBA and WBO titles.
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