Hearn exposes Joshua's ducking of Fury in bombshell interview

December 13th 2015:

“I’d fight Tyson Fury now but it would be a hard fight. When I’m ready, I’ll make it an easy fight. But I’d fight Dillian again. He might give me a few more rounds. That’s what I need.” - Anthony Joshua

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...ua-boxing-dillian-whyte-tyson-fury-david-haye

Joshua didn't feel confident of beating Fury in 2016+, saying he wasn't ready and wanted to rematch Whyte instead.

December 2017:

“I’ve talked to Tyson Fury numerous times about it and I don’t know if he was having a laugh when he was saying it’s a 50-50 split or not, but we’re not in a position to talk about that fight anyway for a while.” - Eddie Hearn

https://theeagleonline.com.ng/furys-joshua-demands-are-a-joke-promoter/

January 25th 2020:

"'Everything takes explanation, I don’t understand why it should be a 50/50 split.

‘It was the biggest upset when I got beat, it should be the biggest comeback when I came back. I want it all, I want 70 per cent." - Anthony Joshua

https://www.asbnews.ng/2020/01/25/a...-offer-to-face-winner-of-wilder-fury-rematch/

Joshua was pricing himself out of fights with Fury and Wilder, demanding a 70-30 split against the winner of their rematch despite being 1-1 in his last two fights. This is despite Wlad giving Ibragimov and Haye 50-50 splits in order to unify with them.

December 12th 2020:

This content is protected

Interesting that pre-Ruiz Joshua didn't call out 5 defence WBC champion Wilder in 2017, who was at ringside for the Wlad fight and instead called out a 30 stone drug addict 17 month inactive/retired Fury but had nothing to say after Fury had destroyed Wilder in 2020.

August 26th 2022:

"Joshua was mentally defeated since round 10 or 11"

"And I think that Anthony’s mind is a bit weaker than Usyk’s, because instead of going out stronger, his mind and exhaustion play games with him..."

“Because of my own experience, I can notice when a fighter is mentally defeated."

"In such a situation, instructions don’t work, because the fighter is not listening anymore, his mind collapses."

https://talksport.com/sport/boxing/...robert-garcia-mentally-weaker-oleksandr-usyk/

Withering criticism of Joshua from Joshua's coach Garcia immediately following his 2nd loss to Usyk.

September 16th 2022:

"Joshua needs two or three fights before fighting Fury" - Robert Garcia

https://www.skysports.com/boxing/ne...r-two-or-three-fights-before-tyson-fury-clash

December 11th 2022:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/b...hony-Joshua-Robert-Garcia-did-wrong-next.html

Hearn states on December 11th that Joshua has sacked Garcia.

"Speaking to Behind The Gloves about AJ's relationship with Garcia, reporter Gareth A. Davies said: 'I've heard they haven't seen eye to eye the whole time."

October 26th 2022:

“It’s probably a bit of everybody’s fault (Fury-Joshua fell through)” - Hearn

Translation: it's our fault it fell through.

"It’s a very complex situation for both teams, with TV networks."

Muddying the waters.

"I don’t mind saying, AJ’s just coming off a defeat, he wanted December 17, but we agreed to December 3 (2022), he would have had to get back into the gym immediately"

Translation: AJ is coming off back to back defeats to an ex-cruiser and 3 defeats in his last 5 fights, one by NOMAS7 with 4 KD's received from a 6' light punching blob, so he's lacking confidence. Prime athlete AJ also isn't happy with only having 12/13 weeks to prepare (Fury called Joshua out on September 5th), for an opponent our team have been studying for years.

"I don’t sit here today, as someone who represents Anthony Joshua, devastated that fight didn’t happen."

Translation: For AJ's sake and more importantly my own, I'm over the moon that the fight didn't happen.

“He wanted to take it, so I was all in, but it was a very quick turnaround for him in a fight of that magnitude.”

Translation: We didn't want it. Fury would have destroyed him, slaughtering what's left of my cash cow.

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/boxing/joshua-fury-fight-hearn-b1035351.html

October 31st 2022:

'My last fight, it tore me apart': Anthony Joshua opens up on why he won't be fighting again until 2023... with the two-time heavyweight champion admitting he needs to 'rest mentally' after devastating rematch loss against Oleksandr Usyk"

Joshua conceded that losing to Usyk twice in a row "tore me up" and that he needs to "rest mentally", to be back in "2023".

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/b...art-Anthony-Joshua-opens-wont-fight-2023.html

Why did Joshua say he would be ready and would "sign the contract" for December 3rd 2022 when he'd had less time to recover than he'd had at this point? Did his team block him? Did he get cold feet?

"It (Fury-Joshua) will happen, he's (Fury) definitely a fighting man."

If the breakdown in negotiations were due to obstruction on Fury's side, why was AJ being so conciliatory? Why wasn't he accusing team Fury of avoiding the fight?

November 5th 2022:

This content is protected

"Should he (Joshua) have accepted the fight? Maybe not."

Speaks for itself.

January 13th 2023:

It's reported that part time factory worker Franklin is one of the frontrunners for the Joshua fight, having been in consideration for more than a month and a half prior.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/boxing/anthony-joshua-next-fight-opponent-28949282

https://www.dazn.com/en-DK/news/box...nthony-joshua-fight/fginw6691ybt18nmq8l447bda

Joshua promptly agreed to fight the featherfisted 44/5 underdog for April 1st 2023 (exactly 4 months after he was allegedly willing to fight 1/4 favourite Fury) with a brand new head trainer: his third in his last three fights.

Given the disarray in Joshua's camp 4 months prior and the comments that the soon-to-be-fired Garcia made about Joshua "mentally capitulating" against Usyk in rounds 10-12, was Joshua's team ever going to allow him to fight Fury in December 2022? (assuming that he wanted it, which the video towards the top suggested he didn't even before the Usyk losses).

4 months after Franklin had taken Joshua the distance who was Joshua scheduled to fight in August 2023? Whyte, who 16 months prior had been schooled and one-punch KO'd by Fury, unable to land a meaningful shot over 6 rounds. 5/1 underdog Whyte failed a drug test and was replaced by six days notice 10/1 underdog Helenius, who 10 months prior had been one-punch KO'd in 1 round by Wilder. Joshua got busted up by 39 year old Helenius and laboured to a 7th round KO win. Joshua's opponent in his 3rd comeback fight for December 23rd 2023 was 10/3 underdog and former sparring partner Wallin, another "rehabilitation fight" under yet another new trainer (his 4th in 5 fights) in Fury's former coach Ben Davison. In March 2024 he fought 7/2 underdog Ngannou, an 0-1 boxer. 6 months later Joshua was brutalised and KO'd stiff in 5 rounds by 7/2 underdog Dubois, before ducking the rematch scheduled for 5 months later.

Hearn/Joshua ducked Fury because they wanted Fury to beat their 2x conqueror Usyk for them in an undisputed fight, increasing the financial value and prestige of a Fury-Joshua fight even further, while aging and wearing Fury out and rebuilding Joshua under a new trainer.

This content is protected

“Wilder knocks him (Joshua) out cold, bad. Joshua could box for 5 or 6 rounds and that one punch knocks him out.” - Robert Garcia, 2019

"A few rounds, Usyk fights well, gives Fury problems, but I think Fury's too big, too strong, too heavy. He's gonna use his advantages to tire him out cause Usyk does tire, too. He doesn't like body shots. Fury's gonna be too heavy for him, tire him out and finish him." - Robert Garcia, October 2023

31st October 2023:

"AJ will beat Fury; I say this with my chest, my heart and now my brain" - Hearn after Fury-Ngannou

This content is protected

Hearn saying "now my brain" reveals that he didn't actually believe that Joshua would beat Fury before, that he was lying at least since the Ruiz loss and certainly since Wilder 2. This makes the well-established ducks by Hearn/Joshua of Fury et al. even more clear:

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/joshua’s-consistent-ducking-of-wilder-and-the-wilder-whyte-wbc-saga-explained.711576/