Eddie Hearn has insisted Anthony Joshua’s clash with Tyson Fury could still happen with the promoters and broadcasters involved in organising the fight still trying to ‘conclude the deal.
Fury set Joshua a deadline of 5 pm on Monday to sign the contract and took to his social media account after the cut-off point had passed to say the proposed fight in December was off.
The WBC champion cited a lack of movement from Joshua’s team as the reason for pulling the plug but Hearn has now said the promoters and broadcasters involved have had several ‘positive’ phone calls.
According to Hearn, the promoters and broadcasters – who are working hard to finalise AJ and Fury’s fight – had several ‘positive’ phone calls on Monday.
Hearn went on to say there has been no talk of a deadline between the two parties despite Fury claiming AJ had until 5 pm on Monday to sign the contract.
Instead, Hearn – who is the chairman of Matchroom Sport – has said that they ‘are moving at pace to try and conclude the deal.
Speaking to TalkSPORT, Hearn said: “There were various positive calls today between promoters and broadcasters who are all working hard to finalise the fight.
“There has been no talk of a deadline between the parties, but we are moving at pace to try and conclude the deal.”
Hearn’s comments came shortly after Fury insisted he would not be fighting his heavyweight rival AJ in December.
Fury said the deal with Joshua was ‘off’ because his fellow Brit missed a deadline of 5 pm on Monday afternoon to sign the contract.
The Gypsy King – who is frustrated with what he perceives to be a lack of movement from Joshua’s camp – posted a video on Instagram minutes after the cut-off passed.
The 34-year-old said he will be moving on to face someone else because Joshua is an ‘idiot’ who ‘didn’t have the minerals to take the fight.
Nevertheless, Hearn is still confident the fight will go ahead as he believes negotiations are heading in the right direction.
However, Fury’s promoter Frank Warren has already established a backup plan for the Gypsy King. He has lined up Mahmoud (formerly Manuel) Charr as a potential replacement for Joshua.