Eddie Hearn Interview: Parker and Joshua

Eddie Hearn Interview: Parker and Joshua.

Download link for a 1min video of famed British boxing promoter Eddie Hearn talking about Joseph Parker and Anthony Joshua.

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EDDIE HEARN INTERVIEW

On Parker v Fury
I think it’s a good fight. He’s got the history with Tyson Fury and the Fury family. I think it’s a good first defence for Joseph Parker. He’s come through some impressive wins against Takam and Andy Ruiz and now we’re going to see what he’s made of. Half of us want Hughie Fury to do the business, the brit but also we’re looking at that Joseph Parker fight for Anthony Joshua, if he can come through Hughie Fury we can look at a potential unification fight later in the year.

How does JP raise his profile in the UK so it’s a fight that you want to put on?
Beating a Brit is always good to do that kind of thing. He keeps having to look good, getting exposure, getting these defences in, This is a solid first defence, it’s a mandatory for him as well. I think it’s an exciting fight, so he has to go out there and look good, there will be people watching all around the world, continue to win and those big fights are just around the corner.

He has to knock people out, people like entertainment, you look at Anthony Joshua, it’s the same type of style, go out there, let your hands go, it’s the heavyweight division. People want to see knockouts. They want to see speed and Parker is a similar type of fighter to Anthony Joshua. He’s young, he’s an athlete, he’s explosive as well, and that’s what people want to see. They don’t want to see 12 rounds of exhibitions, people grabbing and holding, they want to see people who will let their hands go and Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker are two heavyweights who do that.

Do you want to see Joseph Parker knockout Hughie Fury?
The Brit in me wants to see Hughie Fury do the business. But certainly the promoter in me looks at a potential matchup between Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker and I can’t help but lick my lips.

How close is a potential matchup between Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker?
Very close because after we beat Wladimir Klitschko. We have two belts, we want all the belts and Joseph Parker has one of those belts. You have Deontay Wilder and you have Joseph Parker and I think the matchup, style wise, between Parker and Joshua tends to be a very exciting fight, where there could be three of the four heavyweight belts on the line.

How is Joshua looking a couple of weeks out from Klitschko?
Looking great, very relaxed, and we’re going to have 90 thousand at Wembley and I think Klitschko, just throwing out a few mind games now, I’m excited for fight week. I think he’s going to have to get in Joshua’s head and I think he’ll try. This is a 50/50 fight. You’ve got a guy who is fearless in Anthony Joshua, against a guy who has got all the experience in the world, its his 29th world heavyweight title defence, and Anthony Joshua 19th fight. He should be applauded taking fights like this but the gamble is on. Two of the heavyweight belts and to become in the biggest star in world boxing.

Joshua on pressure.
I saw in the Charles Martin fight, although it looked easy on the night, that was a fight for the world heavyweight title before his time. I don’t think the atmosphere is going to get to him, the occasion’s going to get to him, he won gold for Great Britain at the London Olympics where he had all the expectation on him. He thrives off that. He’s got his gameplan, he believes he can knockout Wladimir Klitschko and he’ll be trying to do it on April 29.

(Good background for you: Eddie didn’t say it in the interview but told us over lunch. He favours Parker v Joshua instead of Wilder v Joshua because Wilder is a virtual no name in USA. He believes Wilder needs to have a good american profile to lure good money from USA TV networks. At the moment, Widler’s american profile is rubbish because he still fights out of Alabama. He said fighting Wilder now with no american profile leaves a lot of money on the table. He also wasn’t surprised when we told him that Wilder is keen to come to NZ to fight Parker in a unification bout. He believes Joshua has few credible options open to him after Klitschko and Parker is top of the list).

Joshua fights twice a year and next bout would be late November or early December

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