By: Sean Crose
He stunned a lot of people when he usurped Anthony Joshua for Joshua’s numerous world heavyweight titles last year. Now it looks like Oleksandr Usyk may have a chance to prove his (somewhat unexpected) win over Joshua wasn’t a fluke this coming April. While it has been accepted by many that a rematch between the two men would be sooner rather than later, promoter Eddie Hearn has now announced that April could be the month Usyk-Joshua 2 ends.
“I think April is the reality for that fight,” Hearn told the media on Friday. “Before you know it, it will be February and these matches need a lot of organization.” Hearn added that location heavily influences the decision when the much-anticipated rematch will take place. “For us, the preferred date and place for that fight would be the UK,” he said, “in which case we would have to fight outside, so we don’t really care. fighting that battle in March.”
With that in mind, Usyk’s side made it clear that they wanted the rematch to take place in the home country of the defending champions – Ukraine. However, it seems unlikely that a homeland war for Usyk will happen – at least not for the moment. “We have the ability to settle the war where we want, but at the same time have to generate enough money to know that we have done our job,” Hearn said. Kiev (the capital of Ukraine) is not a money maker, places other than the UK will be considered. I don’t believe the war will take place in Kiev.”
No matter where the rematch may be held, Hearn said Joshua will be prepared. After losing the title to Usyk last year, Joshua is looking to assemble a new team to make him more effective in the rematch. “We really know where we are going from a training perspective,” Hearn told the media, “and the preparation for the next battle. It wasn’t like we were just hanging around without really knowing what we were doing and AJ was very meticulous in our approach to forming that new team. ”
With a rematch clause as part of the contract for the first fight, a second fight between Usyk and Joshua is clearly going to happen…unless of course, something catastrophic happens, or either of them. Join the war to get money from the third part in to step aside. However, that prospect is increasingly unlikely.
