But a Joshua vs Haye announcement would not surprise me either, based on the chaos in boxing news this week.
UK boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has been in the news a lot in recent days, including today’s signing of another heavyweight Luis Ortiz.
But it appears the big one before the end of 2016 that he’s working on is getting close now.
Last night while watching the Ricky Burns fight, in between the Burns fight and the co-main event of the evening Hearn was questioned by Sky Sports on the prospects of the Klitschko vs Joshua fight happening.
He yet again displayed enthusiasm on the subject (as he has consistently):
Hearn says Joshua opponent will be announced next week
— Niall Doran (@NiallerDoran) October 7, 2016
Hearn says Klitschko is favourite for Joshua’s next opponent & says next week fans should have some news that will “blow their mind” #boxing
— Niall Doran (@NiallerDoran) October 7, 2016
Hearn says that if Klitschko vs Joshua gets made that it will likely be pushed into December of this year #boxingnews
— Niall Doran (@NiallerDoran) October 7, 2016
This is to be expected from any promoter looking to hype up a potential fight, granted, but something seemed a little bit different in this particular interview on TV last night.
He essentially said that all parties connected with the fight and the boxers themselves want the fight, so what’s the problem then you might ask – why no announcement yet?
A great heavyweight fight it it comes off, no doubt.
It could be that Klitschko is digging in his heels on a couple of terms in the contract outside of the financial aspects of the deal. That wouldn’t surprise me.
But when Hearn was getting interviewed last night, he had a rather smug look on his face as if he had something else that he couldn’t say. Something else up his sleeve.
When the fight was initially thrown into the boxing rumour mill last week it was thought that the end of November would be the month for it to happen.
But I knew at the time that there simply wasn’t enough time between then and now to hype up a pay per view event of Klitschko vs Joshua proportions.
Hearn said as much last night on TV, and also perhaps more importantly, said it’s now December that’s being looked at for Joshua’s next fight.
December. Think about it for a minute.
Heavyweight David Haye in recent days has said he’s got a big announcement coming up soon for December 10th for his next fight – mentioning to fans:
“You will be happy!”
Hearn also said that next week there will be news for fans which will:
“Blow your minds.”
Could it be that as a backup plan should the Klitschko fight for Joshua fall through, that behind the scenes, Haye vs Joshua is what’s really been discussed for December?
Or could the Klitschko fight just be a smokescreen all together by Hearn, to get fans talking in general about his prized heavyweight asset, and that it’s the Joshua vs Haye fight that’s been done all along?
Haye has been linked with a fight at the Millenium Stadium too for December by the BBC and would need a big star name like Joshua to sell it out, given the size of the stadium and time of year for boxing.
Maybe I’m reading into things a bit too deeply here, over analysing a fraction, but I just think stranger things have happened.
Another scenario could be that it is Klitschko vs Joshua and that David Haye will fight on the same bill in a mega event type night.
Either way, expect at least one big heavyweight fight in December to be announced for the UK – whatever way this thing plays out.
