Hearn: ‘AJ accepted £10m pay cut to fight in UK’

Anthony Joshua is eyeing a fight with Murat Gassiev if he can overcome Tyson Fury in the Battle of Britain, reports talksport.com.

Joshua and Fury are finally set to get their hands on each other on December 11 at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium after several failed attempts to get the fight off the negotiation table over the last 10 years.

There will be more than just bragging rights on the line as, according to reports, the WBA’s primary world title, the ‘super’ heavyweight strap, is up for grabs for the winner.

If the reports prove to be true, then it will mark the first time the ‘super’ belt has been contested between two non-titlists in boxing’s glamour division.

It is also bad news for Gassiev, who had become the sole WBA heavyweight champion after Oleksandr Usyk opted to relinquish his world titles in June.

The Russian powerhouse had previously held the WBA’s secondary ‘regular’ belt, but with the absence of a ‘super’ champion, he had essentially become a real world champion.

Gassiev defended his title in July against short-notice replacement Peter Kadiru before learning via a report from Ring Magazine that he would be returning to his WBA ‘regular’ status to make way for Fury and Joshua.

As of Tuesday, Gassiev stated that he hadn’t received any official confirmation from the WBA.

He and his team subsequently lodged a formal objection “demanding that [the WBA] publicly refute the reports and take no action that would deny Gassiev his rightful status.”

“If anyone should be fighting for the WBA Super heavyweight title, it is Murat Gassiev, the reigning champion, not two boxers who currently hold no world title between them,” wrote John Wirt, co-promoter and legal counsel for Gassiev.

Fury has since come out and confirmed that the WBA ‘super’ belt has been sanctioned for his bout with Joshua, although it wasn’t mentioned at Wednesday’s press conference.

After the launch press event, Joshua was asked at stageside which champion he would like to fight next if he beats Fury.
His response: “Murat Gassiev.”

As per the WBA’s rules, a ‘super’ champion is obligated to make a defence against the ‘regular’ titlist in a period no longer than 18 months.

In theory, this should mean that Joshua, if victorious, is compelled to box Gassiev in the not-so-distant future.

However, the WBA has often disregarded this rule, especially at heavyweight.

Mahmoud Charr, for example, held the WBA ‘regular’ trinket for five consecutive years without unification.

Meanwhile, Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, has disclosed that AJ accepted a pay cut of over £10m (€11.7m) for the long-awaited clash with Fury to hold in the UK.

Joshua and Hearn held out for the fight to be staged in Britain while Saudi Arabia’s boxing kingpin Turki Alalshikh, his American partner Dana White and broadcaster Netflix pressed for New York’s Madison Square Garden as the venue.

Backed by the terms of their contracts with Sela, the Saudi entertainment company, they eventually got their way with the 80,000-capacity Principality Stadium chosen because of its retractable roof.

But for it to happen in Cardiff on December 11, Joshua had to accept a reduced purse.

Hearn said: “People started saying ‘please bring the fight to the UK,’ and AJ started feeling tat. To keep it in the UK, he’s got to turn down eight figures plus. AJ goes to me, ‘Whatever you think,’ and I’m like, ‘No, no, no, it’s your money. I can’t make that decision for you’.

“He asks what (do you) think I should do, and I told him I think the UK is where the fight should be because there’s an edge for him to have this fight in the UK, but it’s a lot of money. And he went, ‘f*** it, we’ll do it in the UK’.”

Alalshikh revealed that moving the fight away from New York cost him €62m and holding the ring walks in the early hours of the Saturday morning was a concession that had to be made for the American market.

Wembley was his preferred choice with his ambition to have pop star Dua Lipa also performing on the night, but the strict 11 pm curfew in place for events at the venue made it unviable.

Alalshikh: “I wanted it at Wembley – tell the mayor. Tell Dua Lipa. I knew from the beginning that London would not give me the stadium until 2 am. In the end, Wales has delivered, and that’s still in the UK.”