Hearn explains why he wanted to ‘push back’ Fury’s Joshua fight offer

Eddie Hearn has revealed that the purse split for Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua made him want to ‘push back’ negotiations with The Gypsy King. Joshua and Fury are set to square off on December 3 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff with personal terms being agreed upon by both parties.

Fury will receive a 60/40 split of the overall purse which Hearn attempted to renegotiate to 50/50 but was overruled by AJ. Hearn claims that they also offered Fury a 60/40 split when they first began negotiating the fight in 2020 but Fury told them he would only take 50/50.

With this in mind, Hearn hesitated to accept the monetary side of the deal.

“When he drew to [Deontay] Wilder, we offered Fury the fight against AJ, and we offered him 60/40 and he said no, and he said I’ll only take 50/50,” Hearn told Sky Sports. “That’s one of the reasons I wanted to push back on some of the terms. But in the end, it was AJ who overruled and said no just accept it.”

Hearn and Frank Warren’s son George have been negotiating the deal together and are discussing the possibility of a joint DAZN/BT pay-per-view.

“Broadcasters need to have their discussions,” Hearns continued. “Which I don’t think will be a problem. It’s actually not that complicated.

“If they’re genuine and George tells me they are, then I think the fight will get made. I think George feels his instructions are to make the fight. But you just never know with Tyson Fury… Is this a ploy to speed up the Usyk fight, get more money from a site?

“It might have been a bluff, or a bit of publicity that actually turns into it happening. Or maybe it was genuine from the start. It could be anything. That’s a sceptical view but right now I’m going along the lines of I believe him because I want to be positive and work together to make it happen.”