EDDIE HEARN has revealed boxing bosses from Saudi Arabia are set to fly in to watch Anthony Joshua’s next fight.
Because if Joshua defeats Robert Helenius at the O2 Arena on Saturday night, all systems are a go for a blockbuster with Deontay Wilder.
Hearn said: “There’s definitely been a lot of work behind the scenes, months of discussions.
“We could get a deal done Sunday or Monday, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case.
“But the intention is to at least come over and agree a deal whilst they’re here but AJ’s got to win on Saturday.”
A December date was initially pencilled in for Joshua, 33, and Wilder, 37, but it looks to have now been backdated to January.
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That is because AJ struck a deal to rematch Dillian Whyte, 35, the man he beat in 2015.
But with just seven days to go, Whyte was pulled out amid a failed drug test with Helenius, 39, brought in as a replacement.
It is eerily similar to when Jarrell Miller, 35, blew his chance of fighting Joshua following a disgraceful doping scandal in 2019.
Outsider Andy Ruiz Jr, 33, would replace Miller and later stun AJ in seven rounds, only to lose the rematch six months later.
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But it ultimately KO’d a super-fight with Wilder, who instead would share a trilogy series with Tyson Fury, 34.
So Hearn wants to avoid lightening striking twice and insisted Joshua must first avoid another disastrous banana skin.
He said: “This is a bit different, if he loses to Robert Helenius, I’m not sure the direction we take with that.
“And whatever you think about Helenius, he’s an absolute lump and he can punch and he will try to win the fight.
“He won’t take a knee, he won’t not try and win. He will let his hands go until he gets knocked out. So AJ’s got to be switched on, it’s a big risk.
“But I still go along the lines of, if he can’t beat Robert Helenius, he ain’t beating Deontay Wilder. And we’re in these fights to win, not to get paid.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
