Eddie Hearn delivers verdict on his plans for Anthony Joshua's clash with Tyson Fury

Eddie Hearn believes that a superfight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury will happen twice and is hopeful that they can be made in 2021

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn believes that Anthony Joshua's clash with Tyson Fury can be made in advance of 2021, and believes that the fight will take place twice due to it's sheer magnitude and importance to the sport particularly in the UK.

Anthony Joshua is set to fight Kubrat Pulev in his mandatory defence towards the end of 2020, with a date being targeted in December but believes that he will come through the clash unscathed and set up the mega fight with Fury, without any other obstacles in the way of the two-time world champion.

Fury also has a fight in negotiations before any potential clash with Joshua, with the 32-year-old set to complete a trilogy with Deontay Wilder before the end of 2020, as negotiations are ongoing for the fight to be held in Las Vegas.

Despite the ongoing complications of the pandemic, Hearn remains confident that a deal can be reached for two contests during 2021 providing there are no hurdles caused by the late fights scheduled for this year, and the situation improves around the sport financially with the possibility of returning spectators.

He told talkSPORT : "Everyone’s looking at obviously the heavyweight fight between Tyson Fury and AJ, which I believe you’ll see twice next year. I just think that because of the pandemic everyone’s aim now is just to get their fight in this year.

“For AJ, December 12 against Kubrat Pulev looks to be the date that we hope to announce next week. Tyson Fury against Deontay Wilder is hopefully December 19 – get them out the way. Don’t slip up on the banana skin that we saw and get these fights made next year. Fury against AJ, I really believe you’ll see two of those. One in spring/summer, one at the end of the year, and it’s a must.”

With a busy schedule just announced by Matchroom behind-closed-doors, Hearn has insisted that tthe fight between Fury and Joshua may not be able to go ahead without spectators due to it's magnitude and may have to tussle with the Government in the future in order to secure the status of the event whenever it takes place.

“Everyone keeps saying, ‘Yeah, crowd’s will return soon'. But right now I’m focussed on delivering boxing behind closed doors because we can’t just take for granted that fans are gonna return any time soon.

“So I think the best thing to do is hopefully we can get fans towards the end of the year, but our entire schedule is happening regardless of fans or not. Obviously a fight like Fury vs AJ, it would be borderline criminal to not have people in the building for probably one of the biggest fights of all time.”

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