Eddie Hearn is firmly backing Anthony Joshua to beat Oleksandr Usyk in their soon-to-be-announced rematch.
Joshua suffered a fairly comprehensive defeat at the hands of Usyk last September where he lost his IBO, WBA (Super), WBO and IBF world heavyweight titles.
It was a close fight until the final four rounds where the Ukrainian steamed away from Joshua, who attempted to outbox the former undisputed cruiserweight champion.
Joshua has now reportedly enlisted the help of Robert Garcia to help train him for this fight with Usyk. Garcia, who is renowned for his effective game plans, has led 14 fighters to world titles.
Hearn saw the first meeting up close at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but he believes Joshua will not only become the first man to beat Usyk as a professional, but he’ll knock him out, too.
“I’m telling you now, AJ KOs Usyk within six rounds,” Hearn told fans during a Q&A on Instagram Live.
“I rate Usyk but I believe in Anthony Joshua and I believe he’s going to put it right in the rematch, I really do.”
Joshua is 26-2 in his career with 24 knockouts to his name. Most experts believed he should have exerted his size and power more in the original fight.
The rematch was tipped to happen in Saudi Arabia on July 23, but it seems the fight may stray into August now after some unexpected delays.
“We are close to announcing AJ’s next fight,” Hearn added. “If you watched my Kugan Cassius interview yesterday you would have seen there was a slight delay, but news very soon.”
Hearn told iFL TV that the venue and date were all but done, but that if there were to be a delay it would be no more than two weeks.
“We have agreed to a deal for the site, and the working date of July 23,” he said.
We are pretty much ready to announce. When you question about whether there will be a delay. If there is, you’re talking about two weeks, and it’s for no other reason than time to make sure we can promote the fight in the right way.
“The fight is happening, the fight is agreed in terms of where it will take place and both sides have agreed, both sides have agreed to the deal, both sides have agreed to everything.”
If the fight is delayed for a couple of weeks, then AJ and Usyk wouldn’t have to compete with UFC London on July 23 at least.
