"Got beat by a bloke who's never had a professional fight" - Eddie Hearn puts Tyson Fury on blast for "second coming of Muhammad Ali" claims
Tyson Fury is not necessarily getting rave reviews out of Eddie Hearn after 'The Gypsy King' clashed with Francis Ngannou.
The Matchroom Boxing figurehead was speaking to IFL TV and covered a myriad of subjects, including the heavyweight landscape post-Battle of the Baddest and where Anthony Joshua fits in with Tyson Fury, Francis Ngannou, etc.
When asked if Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua will fight within the next five months, Hearn said:
"I mean the hope in me says yes, but you just never know what this guy's gonna do honestly. Like nothing that he does would surprise me and listen respect to him. Respect to John Fury I think he's ******* hilarious. Shane Fury, who I met him the other night, seems like a nice bloke. What they've done is incredible. They do talk **** at times and so do."
He added:
" If they want to call me out on that, don't expect me not to call you out on it. When you box like you did on Saturday and you tell everyone you're the second coming of Muhammad Ali, don't expect people to, you know; you've gone over there for a cash grab. You've just got beat by a bloke that has never had a professional fight before."
He continued:
"What do you think that comes without criticism? You've got to be bigger than that. So listen, he'll be better for the (Oleksandr) Usyk fight, I'm sure. But who knows whether it'll happen."
The IFL TV Hearn clip answering the latest Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua question below:
Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua - the timeline
Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua has been discussed often over the years as it would be a massive domestic attraction for British boxing fans. The bout was targeted in 2020, but Deontay Wilder utilized a contractual rematch clause to force a third Fury fight. This scuttled Fury's scheduled fight with Joshua, which would have cemented an undisputed heavyweight world champion for the first time since Lennox Lewis.
Alas, that was not to be as the then-unified champion Anthony Joshua eventually faced mandatory contender/ former undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. Usyk would go on to defeat Joshua in a pair of prizefights to claim all of his gold, further setting the fight back at the time.
After Fury's inauspicious performance against Francis Ngannou and Joshua's recent streak of redirected momentum, the fight could make sense, barring a Fury-Usyk undisputed title fight transpiring. A fight that has been brewing for over a decade at this point.