He will retire Tony tonight, so there goes a few quid for Eddie. Secondly, if he moves up and beats AJ within the next 18 months that would have dire consequences for Eddie & Co. Is Usyk going to take down the empire or not? I think he will start dissecting it from tonight.
Bellew is retiring tonight whether he Wins, Loses or Draws. Common knowledge. Not a chance that he (Usyk) beats AJ.
Bellew is retiring pretty soon anyway. He's in a no lose situation tonight and Usyk winning wouldn't be a shock whatsoever. He's a massive favourite. Would Haye beating Bellew have done anything to seriously damage Hearn? Not really. I also think some are jumping way too early when it comes to Usyk as a heavyweight. He's a brilliant cruiserweight of course but he's not massive at the weight and talk of him dancing around the current champions seems premature when he couldn't beat Briedis that convincingly. In a modern heavyweight era whereby the likes of Ibragimov, Haye and Lyakhovich can become world champions there is little reason to say Usyk couldn't, but lets not forget they had to beat Briggs, Valuev and Brewster to do it. If Usyk faces Wilder he faces a man with power that he's never experienced before, who can outreach him by miles and towers above him. Joshua does the same whilst also outweighing him by a likely thirty pounds plus. Fury is even bigger, even heavier, and when in form drastically more challenging as a switch hitting, spoiling, technical fighter. For all Usyk's amateur pedigree it's not like those three have no experience either, and between them have beaten Klitschko, Parker, Povetkin, Stiverne, Ortiz, Breazeale, Whyte, Chisora and hold a combined 89-0 record. For me, talk of Usyk even being close to favourite against any of them would necessitate a record far better than he currently has, and beating Tony Bellew will not change my mind about that.
I thought Usyk signed a co-promotional deal with Hearn recently?! If true, then he's going to expand Eddie's empire further instead of taking it down.
This. Usyk will grow Hearn’s empire. The king is dead tonight long live the king (Bellew retires & Usyk will be ppv every fight from now on).
Depends on who he fights to be fair. Not sure if there is a definitive list but hard to think of many PPV fights over recent years which didn't involve a British/Irish boxer domestically. Mayweather v Pacquaio/McGregor were definitely PPV. Canelo GGG. If Usyk moved up and fought Whyte for example that would be PPV. Usyk v Ortiz/Pulev/Breazeale? Probably not.
People are really forgetting one thing. Usyk has to beat Bellew first. My gut feeling is that Bellew is going to throw a BIG spanner in the works and shock everybody by defeating Usyk, unless he is paid handsomely for this to be a foregone conclusion... Just saying.
Seems like 90% has a gut feeling that Bellew is gonna get spanked tonight, in which case it's quite normal for boxfans to look past that fight and towards the concequences.
Hearn is using Bellew to make his guy a big name in the UK. Done a good job already pre fight. Seems a great character and has a growing cult following! Not sure how someone he's signed up to matchroom can destroy matchroom but I am sure you'll explain...
Spot on. As well as being a fantastic boxer Usyk is clearly very popular with British fans with his querky and likeable personality. He could base himself in UK for his fights like Wlad did in Germany. Under Hearn he could make mega bucks and fight in stadiums. The only issue for Eddie is keeping AJ and Usyk apart at least for a while.
Usyk is a valuable component of the empire. As I said last night; if Usyk beats Bellew and AJ, he becomes a superstar in the UK. He's fighting under the matchroom banner. It's win/win for Eddie. That's what happens when you have the best fighters. The only man who can take the heavyweight division from matchroom is Tyson Fury.
Could Eddie have a long term plan of having another heavyweight to go after any belts AJ can't keep due to mandatory pressures and negotiating issues with other teams? Bit like BooBoo and Dany Jacobs at middle (Canelo also on DAZN but I know its a different deal)
