Eddie Hearn states that the date for the heavyweight clash between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury has now been finalized for August 14th in Saudi Arabia.
According to the Matchroom boss Hearn, he’s predicting the fans will see a different side to IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Joshua’s personality with him being more vocal, trash-talking for his upcoming clash.
With the way Fury verbally lashes his opponents unmercifully, Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) has little choice but to fire back. If AJ says nothing, he’ll be a liability during the build-up similar to how Billy Joe Saunders failed to do his part to promote his fight with Canelo Alvarez.
You can argue that Joshua has already gotten off to an early start in displaying the trash-talking he’ll be doing during the promotion for the fight. For weeks, Joshua has been needling Fury, letting him know what he thinks of him.
“You will get a different AJ in this build-up,” said Eddie Hearn to Sky Sports about Joshua expected to show a different side of his personality for the Fury clash.
“He’s excited because he’s never really, apart from the Dillian Whyte fight, been in a trash-talk environment. He will enjoy it. AJ has got the bit between his teeth, goading him a bit,” said Hearn.
We could see Joshua taking the Jake Paul type of approach of trash-talking Fury endlessly to hype up their fight. Jake showed how effective it could be to trash talk when he created a lot of buzz for his recent fight against former UFC fighter Ben Askren for their April 17th fight on Triller pay-per-view.
Although the fight turned out to be a mismatch, the YouTuber Jake did an excellent job of building interest with his smack talk.
“I’m sure these two DM each other, goading each other,” Hearn said about the Joshua vs. Fury contest. “I get DMs from Fury – sometimes pleasant, sometimes unpleasant!
“When the announcement comes, and the press conferences start, the pleasantries will go away, and it will become personal,” said Hearn.
All four heavyweight titles will be on the line for the first Joshua vs. Fury fight on August 14th. However, the WBO belt will likely be sacrificed for the December rematch, according to Hearn.
Initially, there was uncertainty whether the WBO belt would be in play for the Joshua-Fury fight because Usyk was pushing for his mandated title shot, which is due. Hearn was able to work things out with the WBO, so it’s not a worry now.
