Bob Arum says Eddie Hearn “sabotaged” a potential all-British heavyweight conflict between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, accusing the Matchroom promoter of “slow-playing” negotiations and being against the battle because the starting.
Fury twice took to social media final week to set Joshua and his workforce a deadline by which to signal a contract agreeing to the December 3 bout, to which the 32-year-old replied by underlining his intent to signal the deal whereas explaining it was within the palms of his attorneys given the finer particulars in play.
On Monday Hearn admitted negotiations had damaged down and that, whereas being open to additional discussions, the battle was off “as far as we’re concerned”.
But Arum has informed Sky Sports it was Hearn who “killed this fight”.
“He wanted to kill it because even as late as yesterday [Monday], if he’d have said let’s all get together and sit in a room and get everything finalised, it could have been done in a couple of hours,” Arum stated.
Matchroom declined to remark when approached by Sky Sports News.
Barry Jones says he all the time thought the tremendous battle between Fury and Joshua was unlikely to materialise
“I mean, really sad because I really believed both fighters wanted this fight to happen,” Arum added. “The first challenge was properly there’s completely different networks concerned. So, there was a gathering held and, lo and behold, all of the networks signed off and so they discovered a technique to do it.
“Now, Mr Hearn got involved and he didn’t want the fight to happen from the get-go, so he slow-played it. I’ve been in this business almost 60 years so I can tell when somebody doesn’t want something to happen and then slow-plays a negotiation.
“Here, as soon as the odds have been determined, there have been no actual points. You might sit in a room for 3 hours and get every part finalised, however Hearn refused to do it. I feel that was horrible on his half as a result of I do know Frank Warren and George, companions from Queensberry, have been ready to satisfy personally with Eddie and get every part labored out.
“I mean there were no issues, for a fight not to happen where there are no issues because one promoter doesn’t want it to happen and is in a stalling position is to my mind reprehensible.”
Fury had set Joshua one other deadline final week to signal a contract that may see the pair face off in December
Hearn had recommended Arum was pouring water onto the potential battle by voicing doubts over it materialising.
“Maybe I said that I thought it wouldn’t happen but that’s because I knew Eddie, I knew that Eddie would find a way to sabotage the fight,” Arum continued.
“Now, I mean, isn’t that ridiculous? ‘Bob said the fight wouldn’t happen, therefore it’s not my fault’. What are you talking about? Get in a room with Frank Warren and his son George and work out the couple of issues that are really nothing and get the fight on.
“But, Eddie Hearn has nothing left actually in his secure and he’s clinging to AJ as his solely potential attraction.”
Mahmoud Charr questioned whether or not Fury is ‘scared’ to signal for a battle after revealing his workforce tried to contact the WBC champion’s promoter Frank Warren
In threatening to stroll away from the battle have been his deadlines not met Fury drew some criticism for his position within the hopes of the conflict tapering off.
However, Arum insists the WBC heavyweight champion is to not blame and stated individuals “will blame Eddie Hearn forever” if the battle fails to return to fruition.
“Tyson Fury is Tyson Fury. He hasn’t been trained in law school so he wants a fight, if he’s imposing deadlines which aren’t really deadlines because he’s sending a message, get off your asses and get this thing done,” Arum continued.
“It was clear that was the case. So, nobody should be blamed for this fight not happening, not Tyson, not AJ, not anybody else other than Eddie Hearn.”
Arum, in the meantime, stays optimistic of Fury going through Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship within the early months of 2023.
“Absolutely. I keep in contact on virtually a daily basis with Egis Klimas, the manager of Usyk, because he’s also the manager of fighters that we promote,” stated Arum.
“So, I always take a reading on this and Klimas said that in his discussion with potential sites, it would be the last week in February or the first week in March which would suit us all.”
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