Why no talk of AJ V Fury

Joshua is at the level where he is the story, and what happens in the ring is just the plot unfolding. The current plotline is about him unifying the division and conquering in the world; if he happens to lose it shifts to AJ's comeback and redemption arc. Whatever happens to Joshua, it can be sold in a way that the public will still want to buy. It's very hard to get to Box Office status, but once you're there it's difficult to get knocked off.

Ali-Norton was a much more profitable and meaningful series of fights than say Ali-Bugner, because the former was a far more engaging storyline. Ali having his jaw broke and losing, and against a former marine, was a better sell than if Ali had won as expected.

 

Great post and an interesting way to look at it. Boxing fans routinely berate promoters for being too cautious when it comes to protecting a fighters precious '0.' Maybe we should also be more accepting of the fact that when it goes, the fighters popularity doesn't necessarily go with it.

Imagine for a moment that Wlad had finished the job when he dropped Joshua. Had Joshua won the rematch, and gone on to face Parker and Povetkin, would he really be that far away from where he is now?

 

Holy **** there's a lot of Matchroom bots on this thread.

lol at people thinking Hearn is worried about an AJ/Fury match-up. Fury would just get robbed on the scorecards.

 

You are massively overstating how important the bloke is perceived to be. Eddie may well have a narrative but the vast majority of the public DGAF about belts, they just want to see him knock people out. Most would be hard pressed to name more than two organisations. Women fancy him and football casuals lap him up, that's it, he's hardly viewed as some God amongst Men.

He's arguably slightly more well-known than what David Haye was at his most active, if you can remember that, because I can and it was near enough the same. Women loved him and casuals liked him due to KO's and leaping around the ring. As soon as the injuries, lacklustre fights and layoffs happened, the worm started turning. And you have to remember that this is when there hadn't been a serious HW contender for a long time.

The casuals reaction on twitter to Hearn Sr saying it was Whyte in April as opposed to Wilder was interesting. Needless to say he was getting called out on it wheras six months ago it would have been backslaps all around.

 

This isn't replicated in PPV buys. Haye Valuev did 469k. Joshua did more than that fighting Charles Martin.

Haye's best was 1.1m v Wlad. Joshua did 1.5 and 1.4 against Parker. Same figures v Povetkin.

I'd say Joshua is a lot more than 'slightly' more well known than Haye.

 

Got sources for them figures brah? I want to have a closer look.

 

[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay-per-view#United_Kingdom[/url]

Sources included within; most appear to be BARB but every figure is given a source.

 

As mentioned by Tony Belloo, Wilder has a rematch clause. There's murmurs of Fury having one too but not official. But if, or when, Wilder wins, it will be a devastating KO which may rule out any need for a rematch.

 

Because first he'll have to rematch Wilder.

 

Joshua is far and away the biggest draw of the UK PPV era, by any objective measurement. His PPV figures (as far as can be ascertained) are far in excess of any British fighter. He has filled national football stadia consistently in his last four fights, regardless of whether he is fighting Wladimir Klitschko Or AN Other. No British fighter in history can make a similar claim, whether it be Cooper, Bruno, Hatton, Mills or whoever.

You can of course argue that his star power is in the same ballpark as David Haye, providing that you completely ignore any and all readily available facts.

Joshua is a commercial phenomenon. You don't have to like it. You don't even have to understand it. It's absurd to argue otherwise though.

Yes, they do need to keep the momentum going, which ultimately means a fight with Wilder (or Fury). It will affect his marketability if he's perceived to be ducking the biggest fights out there. However, he's a long way off the dissenters impacting on the bottom line.

 

Cos Hearn and aj want no part of fury and will be even more frit when he bests wilder

 

4) he’s said he’ll never fight in the UK again

And people accuse AJ of not wanting the fight...

 

A simple question. Why do some people seem to have such a really, really hard time accepting that with regards to whatever metric you want to use, Joshua is really, really popular?

You personally don't have to like him. You can hate him, his promoter, watch all his fights hoping he loses and never fights again. But come on. He sells loads of tickets like nobody has done for years in this country and shifts massive amounts of PPV sales. Trying to argue otherwise is just ridiculous.

You think Fury, Wilder, anyone beats him? Absolutely fine. Loads do. But lets not pretend he's not popular ffs.

 

Obvious answer is; few think Fury can beat Wilder to set up a fight with AJ...

Wilder has finally attained the level of respect he deserves. Hes a seriously good, powerful heavyweight. Yes he can be hurt... but no one has been able to capitalise on that. Same with Wladmir…. he was hurtable. Took 10 years for anyone to capitalise…

Wilder may be the best heavy for a few years... him or AJ..

 

Probably because it's miles away, with a very good possibility of it never happening?!
IF Fury wins (don't think he will), he would still have to honor the rematch agreement. And if he somehow weasels out of it, he can't fight anyway so it's no use. So, we're getting the rematch, while Joshua is handeling his many mandatories.
Then if Fury manages to win the rematch too, at least 6 months down the line, they can begin negotiations. Unless Joshua has another fight lined up, but let's say he doesn't. Fury already began spouting ridiculous 60/40 splits in his favor after beating Wilder, so those negotiations won't be anyway near easy, or even fall through completely.

If everything falls exactly into place, there might be a chance of the fight taking place late next year. But there's a much bigger chance it never even happens.