Eddie Hearn has revealed his expectation that Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk II will be going ahead, despite the ongoing situation in Ukraine.
As we’re sure you’ll remember, Joshua was comfortably beaten by Usyk back in September at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It was a sobering defeat for AJ, the kind which suggested that his time at the very top may well have come to an end.
Joshua, being the determined character that he is, will have been desperate to get back into the ring with Usyk at the earliest possible opportunity in order to avenge his defeat and win back his titles. However, the situation became complicated.
Usyk is currently in Ukraine preparing to fend off the Russian invaders, which is a difficult obstacle for clear in order to stage this fight. However, Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn has revealed that he is confident they will be able to get an agreement signed and sealed.
‼️ Eddie Hearn has now declared that he believes the Oleksandr Usyk vs Anthony Joshua rematch will happen next, in June. It was previously reported that Usyk has been offered the chance to leave Ukraine’s defence to train for the fight. pic.twitter.com/pM0qt50AwP
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) March 21, 2022
The initial suggestion was that we’d have an April date for the rematch, which was replaced by speculation that Joshua would be taking an interim fight instead. Fight fans will be delighted to hear that this fight should now be going ahead as planned, if a little delayed.
We will still take Hearn’s claims with a pinch of salt, merely because of the unpredictability of the whole situation, but we will provisionally look forward to the rematch materialising in June, with cautious optimism!
