“It’s going to be a tough fight” - Eddie Hearn believes Usyk vs. Joshua 2 is going to be more important than Anthony Joshua vs. Andy Ruiz Jr. 2
Eddie Hearn is expecting the highly-anticipated rematch between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk to be a tough contest. For him, Saturday’s clash at Jeddah will redefine the landscape of the heavyweight world, and Hearn even proclaimed it to be a “bigger” matchup than Joshua’s rematch versus Andy Ruiz Jr. in 2019.
Speaking to The National, the British promoter said:
“This is a bigger fight than Joshua-Ruiz because Usyk is a pound-for-pound king.”
Joshua and Ruiz have met twice inside the squared circle. Their first fight ended with a seventh-round technical knockout win by ‘Destroyer’ in June 2019. Six months later, ‘AJ’ avenged his loss via unanimous decision to become, once again, the unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight champion.
Hearn claimed Joshua will be banking on his experience against Ruiz as he looks to get back at the Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk. As everyone knows, Joshua lost his belts to Usyk last September via unanimous decision. Hearn stated:
“It’s similar [with the Ruiz fight] because he’s [Joshua] coming after a defeat. He will have very fond memories of that Ruiz fight because he went on to win the rematch, and we believe he can do that again. I’m not just saying it. It’s one of the fights he feels most comfortable about. He has such fond memories of the kingdom because of his time in the Ruiz fight, and also, don’t forget that he’s been out there for four weeks already, and that shows how comfortable he is.”
Watch the full fight highlights of Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz Jr. 2:
Eddie Hearn hoping Tyson Fury will fight winner of Usyk-Joshua 2
Eddie Hearn is aiming to put on an undisputed heavyweight contest after the rematch between Oleksander Usyk and Anthony Joshua this weekend. He hopes that WBC titleholder Tyson Fury will come out of his alleged retirement to face the winner of Usyk-Joshua 2.
In a report with The National, Hearn was quoted as saying:
“It has always been the kingdom’s aim to make the undisputed heavyweight world championship. We aren’t very far away from that with the winner of the Joshua-Usyk fight meeting Tyson Fury for the undisputed championship. I think that’s the aim of the kingdom and obviously my aim to see Anthony win on Saturday.”