Dana White made it clear what Eddie Hearn should've done before Anthony Joshua's first loss

09/25/2024 09:39 AM

Dana White fascinatingly broke down Eddie Hearn’s ‘mistake’ before Anthony Joshua’s first defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr.

Joshua was beaten in one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight history in June 2019 by late notice replacement Ruiz Jr on his seismic US debut in New York.

It was a devastating blow to AJ’s career as he lost his unified world titles, and missed out on a potential undisputed title shot against Tyson Fury, who had beaten Deontay Wilder in 2018.

After the stunning turn of events, UFC president Dana White was able to meet Matchroom Boxing promoter Hearn, with the pair having since formed somewhat of an alliance.

And in a fascinating interview with TNT Sports after Joshua’s maiden defeat five years ago, he explained what he would have done differently.

“I met Eddie Hearn here [Madison Square Garden in 2019], he is a really nice guy,” he said.

“But I think the first thing he should have done is locked up Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder, doing whatever it takes to make that happen.

“And then put on them fights, and that way if Anthony Joshua gets beat, he gets beaten by one of the top heavyweights in the world.

“Taking nothing away from Ruiz, but I have said from day one that Joshua can be a big star.

“Boxing has never been in a better position, Joshua, Fury, Wilder. It is better than it has ever been particularly if you look at the Klitschko era.

“I believe that these guys should be all fighting each other anyway, it should be a round robin.

“When these guys all fight each other, there is plenty of money to be made. I think that they all need together and make them.

“It will be exciting time and it would be like a defibrillator for boxing seeing these guys all fight.”

Fury and Wilder have fought three times in an epic trilogy, but to this day Joshua has yet to fight either of his biggest rivals.

It is clear that White would like boxing to follow the UFC model, where he appears to have effectively monopolised the sport.

He has even announced that he is likely to to go into boxing promotion, and could well make a move to adopt the same infrastructure he has successfully rolled out with the UFC.

The UFC matchmaker has most of the sport’s biggest talents and superstars under the same roof so has been easily able to make the biggest and best fights in house.

This is something that stopped Fury and Joshua meeting, with differences between Hearn and rival promoter Frank Warren preventing any agreement.

Hearn had actually tried to formulate a plan to sign Fury prior to his remarkable comeback to the sport, following his win over Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.

The ‘Gypsy King’ met with Hearn in 2017, but the Matchroom Boxing guru rejected the chance to sign him after being left unsatisfied with his physical condition.

But he went on to make a remarkable transformation, and revive his career beating Wilder to regain the WBC heavyweight title the following year under the guidance of rival promoter Warren.

But despite Joshua and Fury being both at the pinnacle of the division, they have still never touched gloves and settled their rivalry.

The pair same close to meeting in 2022 for the undisputed titles, but Fury was ordered by court arbitration to face Wilder for a third time having won their original rematch in 2020.

Since Joshua’s first defeat to Ruiz, it has been a fast-moving landscape as he immediately avenged his defeat the following year.

But Oleksandr Usyk entered the mix and dismantled Joshua on two separate occasions, and has risen to become the top dog in the division.

AJ managed to rebuild with wins over the likes of Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou.

But things have now taken a turn for the worse as he was brutally beaten and dropped four times by Daniel Dubois in his latest fight in Wembleu Stadium.

He now faces an uphill battle to secure a shot with Fury, who will rematch Usyk himself on December 21.

But a fight could still happen, with a potential shot against Wilder now also on the table.

The ‘Bronze Bomber’ recently settled his differences and worked with Hearn in a new revolution of boxing, which has seen promoters all brought together by Saudi boxing chief Turk Alalshikh.

Despite defeats, it is more likely than ever that in the current climate that the big heavyweight fights can still happen.

In a similar plan of White, Alalshikh has even planned to design a boxing ‘super league’ worth billions of pounds, which could well follow White’s existing UFC structure.