By Callum Vurley, courtesy of The Daily Star
ANTHONY JOSHUA was touted to face Dillian Whyte in a mouthwatering rematch but it never came to fruition and Eddie Hearn has revealed why.
Everyone has been eagerly anticipating Joshua’s next fight after five months out of action.
AJ has not been in the ring since his victory over Alexander Povetkin in September at Wembley.
It was his 22nd professional bout, which he won in the seventh round - retaining his IBF, WBO, WBA and IBO heavyweight titles.
Several names had been touted to take on Joshua, with fans hoping for a match against Whyte, Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury.
But negotiations have failed and instead the Watford-born fighter will take on relative unknown Jarrell Miller at New York’s Madison Square Garden in June.
Whyte and Joshua have an ongoing feud that stretches back to 2015 when the duo took on each other at the O2 Arena in December.
AJ knocked his foe out in the seventh round but since then Whyte has bounced back with nine wins out of nine.
But a rematch has fallen through, with Joshua’s promoter Hearn revealing why.
“I think with Dillian, he believes he represents the same value as Wilder and [Tyson] Fury,” he said.
“Dillian is backing himself to get to that level of Fury and Wilder by continuing to build, where he’s gone from the past year, he’s right up there in terms of profile right now.
“But he’s probably fourth behind AJ, Fury and Wilder.”
Hearn went on to state that the idea behind Joshua’s fight with Miller is to boost his profile in the United States.
The 29-year-old has never fought outside of the United Kingdom and Hearn wants his man to become a worldwide star.
“Our strategy to bring Joshua to the U.S has come early, we thought it would be later,” he said.
“But at the moment we can’t deliver the UK fans the fight they want, so we’ll box an American in his back yard.
"Once these Americans see Anthony Joshua in the ring and out of the ring he’s going to be a massive, massive star over there.”
2023-10-22 18:01:35
