Eddie Hearn threatens Fury-Joshua fight with contract dispute

Eddie Hearn remains determined to keep the fight in Britain and appears ready to take the venue dispute with Turki Alalshikh and Netflix even further.

Eddie Hearn is strongly opposing a fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury in the U.S., and wants the match to resist the planned move to the U.S. until the matter becomes a contractual issue.

The venue for this fight was moved to the U.S. to maximize revenue. Hearn, however, remains determined to keep the fight in England, as that would result in the biggest event from a sporting perspective. He also emphasizes that the fight has already been signed for England, and he won’t let this happen without a fight.

The only problem is that Turki Alalshikh and Netflix are determined to have the fight in America, since America naturally offers a bigger stage.

It was already clear that Hearn was opposed to this, but what’s new is that he’s willing to take the dispute this far.

“I disagree. But at the end we’ll fight, and we’ll fight, and we’ll fight to a point where they’ve breached the contract by doing it in America, or we come to an agreement”

he said.

Those are strong words coming from Eddie Hearn, especially when you consider his business relationship with Turki and the numerous events the two have already organized together.

The surprising thing about this story is that Hearn would go as far as terminating the contract if the other side doesn’t meet them halfway. However, if the U.S. ultimately does make the larger commercial event possible, it will be difficult for Eddie Hearn to oppose it on his own, since Tyson Fury isn’t really putting up any resistance against the U.S. either. Matchroom is therefore the last major obstacle to a move to the U.S.

Whether Eddie Hearn and Matchroom are truly willing to let the fight fall through because of a change in venue remains to be seen. However, this dispute could lead to a delay in the fight, which, of course, would be annoying enough on its own.

A few weeks ago, we discussed how nothing was really standing in the way of the fight, unless contractual difficulties arose. That’s exactly what has happened now, and it’s so unfortunate. I just hope the fight will still take place this year, and that the contractual difficulties won’t play too big a role.