Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has taken a dig at the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world Tyson Fury, describing the Gypsy King’s climb up the pound-for-pound rankings as ‘strange’.
Fury recently defeated fellow heavyweight Deontay Wilder for a second successive time in Las Vegas, as the 33-year-old capped off one of the fights of the century with an 11th round knockout to remain undefeated.
The Englishman’s impressive victory saw him continue to climb the ranking as he looks to solidify his place as the world’s top heavyweight boxer, however Hearn disagrees.
Three of Fury’s last five fights have come against Wilder, with the first ending in a controversial split decision in December 2018, before the heavyweight champion prevailed in February 2020 and October 2021.
As a result, Hearn feels that these previous bouts lack the pedigree to warrant Fury’s recent pound-for-pound ranking climb.
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He told Volume Sports: “It’s very difficult to say anything negative about Tyson Fury at the moment, because you just get criticism for being ‘Ah, well, you’re just bitter, you’re just this’.
“I do find it strange that you can continuously climb up a pound-for-pound ranking by beating the same person you’ve beat two-and-a-half years ago – and the only person.
“But, you know, you look at the ESPN rankings, Tyson Fury beat Deontay Wilder, who he just stopped in [seven] rounds, in an absolute war, yet all of a sudden jumps up the pound-for-pound rankings [from sixth to fourth].”
Hearn went on to reveal that he believes a boxer’s climb up the rankings should come when they take on the best fighter’s of the current era, opposed to Fury’s approach of taking on Wilder three times over as many years.
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He added: “Like, to be a heavyweight great, you have to have a brilliant resume that consistently beats the top heavyweights of your era. Now, don’t take anything away from the last two performances.
“I mean, he probably won’t be happy with his last one because he was a bit wild. But it was a great fight.”
Before Fury’s third fight with the American, many – including Hearn – were actively pushing for an all-English matchup between Fury and Joshua, in what was tipped to be one of the biggest bouts in British boxing history.
However talks soon came to a crashing end after Wilder enforced a rematch clause in his contract with the Gypsy King via a court order, which then set up the fight at the T-Mobile Arena this month.
The potential fight between the English duo is now set to be put back even further, after Joshua exercised his rematch clause with Oleksandr Usyk following his defeat to the Ukrainian last month.
Fury could now have an all-British bout elsewhere, as the Gypsy King may be set to take on Dillian Whyte if he is able to get past Otto Wallin, as the winner of next weekend’s heavyweight clash between the two will become the 33-year-old’s mandatory challenger.