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Eddie Hearn, promoter for IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, has reacted to the angry comments from Frank Warren, who co-promotes WBC world champion Tyson Fury.
In a recent interview, Warren explained that he was blindsided by Hearn’s recent interview with ESPN, where the Matchroom promoter revealed that both Fury and Joshua had signed contracts to face each other in a two-fight series.
“Everybody signed an agreement that there would be no announcements unless they were joint announcements and that came out the blue yesterday,” Warren told talkSPORT.
“We are all not happy but it is out there now – there is nothing we can do about that. But there is a long way to go yet in as much we have to sort out venues. We have a couple venues we are looking at and that is where we are.
“I believe it will happen when they get in the ring. We’ve still got a way to go. But everybody is on the same page to make this work. We are all collectively working to get a venue sorted now.”
Hearn explained that he wasn’t trying to announce anything. He only wanted to confirm the information that both boxers had signed their portions of the deal.
Both sides are now working to finalize a date and location – which has to happen in the next few weeks.
“Yesterday’s interview, not announcement, interview with ESPN was, we didn’t want to make a big formal announcement and a fuss. But I wanted to let everyone know. I spoke to Fury’s team and they were happy to convey to everybody that everybody had signed because it’s good news,” Hearn told IFL TV.
“It’s called momentum, it’s excitement. There are still hurdles to overcome. We’ve still got to go out and decide where this is going to take place but we are moving in the right direction in terms of dates. It’s momentum, it’s good news. You guys have been waiting for good news and we’ve kept saying ‘two weeks, two weeks’ but when you get a fight as big as this, with the two fighters and all the teams putting pen to paper, let’s celebrate it and let’s move forward and get this done. That’s what we intend to do.”
“I think Frank said ‘it was agreed we would do announcements’ there wasn’t an announcement, I confirmed with Fury’s team and they were happy for that to be mentioned. So that’s what happened. It wasn’t a case of meeting tweeting ‘IT’S ON!’, it was just ‘I’ve heard you’ve all signed now, is that correct?’ and ‘yes we have signed we’re now moving forward to confirm the date and the venue’. And I think we should celebrate it, myself, Anthony, 258 Management have worked really hard to get this done. So we have still got work to do but how good is it that everybody has put pen to paper? Nobody can be accused of not trying to get this done from our side or their side. Now we’ve got to go and finish the job.”