Think Hearn has done a great job for the most part, but this is stupid. Why cut into the market of someone you should be only trying to make more marketable, considering you will be facing him eventually? Build up the fight by holding the fight one week after. Have Joshua present at the Fury Klitschko fight with his opponent, which could only build even more interest in both their fight one week later, and the eventual Fury Joshua fight.
It might backfire because most people would probably be more interested in seeing who wins the Rematch of Fury/Wlad than Joshua vs TBA bum.
Or it could be a great move, obviously cuts some of the viewers for either fight but both fighting on the same night means all the media will be covering both fury and joshua at the same time, making the publics link between them stronger. The whole night will be focused on them both winning in order to bring about a big unification.
Maybe, I just think they could get the same benefit of linking the fighters in the public and media mind by having it one week later, with those combatants at the earlier fight. That way they don't shortchange their own purses (and can actually build the purse for the second fight).
imagine if sky got both events and they had one timed to happen after the other with both fury and joshua calling each other out after the fight? the fight would be huge. also it would be a good ppv for once
as knockout SPH said hearn An alternative date for Joshua’s first title defence would be June 25 at the O2 once again. “I was going to do [George] Groves-[Martin] Murray on that day, but now I’m going to probably do that on the undercard of Joshua and [Chris] Eubank’s sniffing around, he was there last night,” Hearn said. “ I know he missed it [the O2]. “You never really want to go the week after a big fight. You want to go the week before a big fight. But again July 16 is an option, I’d rather go June 25… That would mean he’d have a week off and he’d have to go back into camp. He’s going to have so much to do over the next couple of days I’d like him to have a week on holiday. It’s not really the fight, it’s the camp. He trained really hard for 11 weeks for that camp, well over 100 rounds of sparring. He’s a perfectionist.” this is sensible the fight took nothing out of joshua / get him in the ring early. he will have to face parker xmas to the new year and thats a hard fight.
