Eddie Hearn says Joshua vs Fury could take place this year and bring sport back to Britain with a bang

Working relentlessly for the past 18 months has taken its toll on promoter Eddie Hearn, or “knocked the b******s out of me”, as he likes to put it.

But the toil ensures that, despite a company built on live events which have ground to a halt, Matchroom Boxing will survive, however long the coronavirus lockdown lasts.

Already, the sporting cessation means the jewel-in-his-crown fight has been moved from its original June date at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to a provisional new date of July 25.

And even then, Hearn is uncertain whether that will be when Anthony Joshua next steps into the ring or, for that matter, whether Kubrat Pulev proves to be his next opponent.

“The next two weeks will tell us everything we need to know,” says Hearn. “We hope July 25 is the rescheduled date, but the bigger question is that Joshua has to fight by the middle of August to box twice this year, which is the plan.

“So, if it goes beyond that, the conversation may go straight to the fight with Tyson Fury in October or November.

"There’s a contract to fight Pulev and Fury has to fight Deontay Wilder, but anything is possible in this crazy world.”

Hearn’s Plan A is that Joshua-Pulev does happen come July. But he also envisages a future where, with so much uncertainty globally, Fury and Wilder do not meet for a third time.

“It might get to stage where if AJ has not boxed Pulev for months, he starts thinking he’s getting older, he doesn’t want the big fights to slide and this might be his only chance to become undisputed heavyweight champion,” says Hearn.

“For AJ, it’s all about the legacy.”

Hearn, 40, knows as he fires off dates and potential opponents that he has no real idea when frontline boxing will resume, or whether that can happen in front of the packed crowds to which Joshua has grown accustomed.

For now, though, he is not looking beyond Spurs’s home as the venue.

“Spurs know if we can’t do it, we can’t do it,” he says. “But we don’t have to look at a back-up for the moment.”

When the lockdown ends, Hearn predicts boxers will make riskier approaches, going for the bigger fights rather than conservative stepping stones.

In Joshua, he knows he has one of the most pivotal players in the conversation about what next for boxing, the other being Fury.

He sees a potential reunification of all the heavyweight belts taking part over two fights: one at Wembley, the other in the Middle East.

“In an ideal world, everyone would say it’s a London fight,” says Hearn. “If it comes in December, January or February, you can’t really do it in London.

"So, you’d have the first one in the Middle East, or maybe the States, and the second at Wembley. Or, if the first fight gets delayed until the summer, then Wembley first.”

As for the outcome, Hearn sees it as 50-50, although argues the scales tip marginally in his fighter’s favour.

“Most bookies give Fury the edge,” he says, “That’s great for Joshua, as he’s spent his whole career with everyone assuming he would win. Now he’s the underdog — and he loves that.”

In Hearn’s eyes, sport, boxing and, principally Joshua, can be a societal saviour once the UK emerges from lockdown.

“We’ll need flagbearers to say Britain’s back and you need iconic British events — and Joshua has become an event,” he says. “He’ll enable boxing and Britain to come back with a bang.”

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