Eddie Hearn has insisted that Anthony Joshua’s rematch with Oleksandr Usyk is “all agreed”, despite the delay in securing a location for the heavyweight title fight.
Usyk outpointed Joshua at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London last September, taking the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO belts from the Briton in the process.
Joshua soon triggered a rematch to face the unbeaten Ukrainian again, although a failed step-aside deal and Usyk’s recent return to his home country have been obstacles in arranging a second bout between the pair.
However, Usyk recently left Ukraine, which is under invasion from Russia, to begin training for a rematch with Joshua, and the Briton’s promoter Hearn has insisted that the fight will take place in July.
“The fight’s all done, it’s all agreed,” Hearn told talkSPORT on Tuesday.
“It’s 100 per cent Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk, the rematch.
“We’re finalising the location at the moment, his team are in London this week, so we’re gonna sit down with them,” Hearn added, confirming a suggestion by Usyk’s promoter Alexander Krassyuk that he and Usyk’s manager Egis Klimas will be ringside for Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte.
“I think in two weeks time we’ll finalise the date. It will be July, and hopefully AJ can become a three-time heavyweight world champion.”
Saudi Arabia is the front-runner to host the fight, although Hearn had mentioned his desire to see the match-up take place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium once again.
He admitted last week, however, that staging the fight in the UK would be “very difficult”.
“If contracts and site fees that have been offered come to fruition, it would make going to the UK very difficult for us to get Usyk to do, quite frankly,” Hearn told the Mirror.
“We can see it from their point of view: ‘Why would I bother going back to England for half the money?’
“We can’t take a site that pays significantly less to Usyk. We want to go to London, it would be a big advantage for AJ to take this fight back to London, but if a site fee generates double the money, there’s no way Usyk will allow us to go to London.”
