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Home » Eddie Hearn adds his garden to list of possible AJ venues

Eddie Hearn adds his garden to list of possible AJ venues

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Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn has added his ‘Fight Camp’ garden venue to the possibilities for Anthony Joshua’s title defense against Kubrat Pulev.

Joshua has been ordered to face the Bulgarian by the IBF since 2017, although several roadblocks have prevented the bout from happening.

Injuries to Pulev, alongside the coronavirus outbreak, have made it almost impossible to get the fight over the line.

Eddie Hearn

Hearn now hopes to seal a deal before the end of the year. He says the stage will be set for AJ no matter where it is.

One thing is for certain, Joshua will fight in 2020.

“You can’t just sit and wait in any career as inactivity will hurt you. In any business, inactivity is going to hurt you. The same goes for boxing; same goes for sport,” Hearn told JD’s In the Duffle Bag podcast from his Matchroom HQ in Brentwood.

“He is planning to box in December, one year after his last fight. That’s a lengthy lay-off for a fighter.

“He will fight this year. It doesn’t matter if it’s here (in my garden), doesn’t matter if it’s O2, doesn’t matter if it’s some other quirky venue we’ve come up with.”

The 41-year-old also believes crowds will be back in venues by October, although he admits he is planning for any “worst-case scenario,” too.

Crowds

“I am working based on a worst-case scenario in my planning. The worst-case scenario is we aren’t going to have crowds this year.

“I don’t think that’s the case. I think we will have crowds coming back in October.

“To be honest, everything is subject to the second wave. We might have a vaccine in a month. We might have a second wave in two months, and we might all be locked down until February.

“I hope not; we are kind of lucky we’ve got things like this you can do. Content is king,” he added.

Pulev’s team has complained several times about the lack of progress, although Hearn has to be careful due to Joshua’s reputation.

Lowering fans’ expectations for an AJ event is non-negotiable, having built his profile over seven years.

The AJ vs Pulev fight will be Pay-Per-View. It will be a spectacular event, and it will be beamed around the world. That’s for sure.

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