Eddie Hearn claims he is signing the fight contract to confirm finally Anthony Joshua ’s world heavyweight title rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.
Hearn has been trying to nail down a date and venue for the fight for months and says it will definitely happen on August 13 or 20. The Matchroom chief also confirmed it will be staged in the Middle East with Jeddah’s new Superdome in Saudi Arabia expected to be announced as the venue. The Superdome only opened 12 months ago and has a capacity of 35,000.
Hearn wants at least two months to promote the rematch globally once all parties have confirmed it and says an international media tour could begin on June 20.
Joshua lost his WBA Super, IBF and WBO crowns to Usyk at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in September to suffer his second pro defeat and will be bidding to win them back from the Ukrainian and become a three-time world champion.
April was the original date mooted for the fight and Hearn told the DAZN Boxing Show: “July 23 was obviously the proposed date and we got to a point where we’re now less than seven weeks away.
“We’ve got global media tours, TV rights to secure, international sponsorship deals.
“You’re going to see that fight in August - the 13th and 20th are the proposed dates. We are literally signing the paperwork as we go in the last 24 hours. You will get an official announcement soon.
“The international media tour will commence June 20 or something like that.
“The fight is on, the fight is happening, the Middle East looks pretty much set. We’re pretty much there now.”
Hearn also talked up a unification clash at super-featherweight between Wales’ latest world champion Joe Cordina and Shakur Stevenson.
Cordina sensationally knocked out Kenichi Ogawa in two rounds on Saturday in Cardiff to become the !BF champ in only his 15th fight.
Stevenson holds the WBC and WBO belts and Hearn says Cordina has the best chance of anyone of beating the undefeated American.
Hearn says all of boxing would love to see those two square off for supremacy in the super-featherweight division.
“Shakur Stevenson for me is already a pound-for-pound great fighter,” he said.
“But tell me a fighter at 130 lbs that you’d give more chance of beating Shakur Stevenson right now than Joe Cordina?
“I know Cordina will be an underdog in the fight, but when you produce performances like that, you start saying, ‘OK, this kid is a threat to people like Shakur Stevenson.’
“And the difference with Cordina is, he’s technically very good and very cute, as well, and Shakur is probably the king of that; he’s so good and so cute and so clever.
“But that’s a really, really good fight. It will probably end up at some point being for the undisputed championship at 130 lbs, it’s the best fight.
“If I said to you now, ‘Tell me the best fight at 130 lbs,’ I think you’d say Shakur Stevenson v Joe Cordina.”
