‘All agreed’ – Eddie Hearn confirms Anthony Joshua’s rematch with Oleksandr Usyk is on and reveals the month in which it will happen
Eddie Hearn has reiterated that the Oleksandr Usyk vs Anthony Joshua rematch is ‘all agreed’.
AJ lost his heavyweight belts to Usyk back in September, but days later activated his contractual clause to force a second fight with the Ukrainian.
Talks began for the rematch, but were then disrupted in January by the proposed step-aside deal which would have resulted in Usyk to facing Tyson Fury instead.
Negotiations took place with representatives in Saudi Arabia, who were looking to pay AJ and Fury’s mandatory Dillian Whyte to step aside and allow the two champions to meet in an undisputed showdown.
Ultimately this fell through and Fury is now set to face Whyte on Saturday night, live on talkSPORT.
As a result, Team Joshua’s attentions turned back to Usyk, however when Russia invaded Ukraine in February, he returned to his home country and joined Kyiv’s territorial defence.
It wasn’t until late last month that Usyk confirmed he’d left Ukraine to train for the Joshua rematch.
As the second fight is coming about via a rematch clause in the contract for the first fight, all the terms are already agreed from that initial contract.
All that needs to be decided are the date and location, which Hearn expects to be finalised imminently.
“The fight’s all done, it’s all agreed,” Hearn told talkSPORT Breakfast on Tuesday, “It’s 100 per cent Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk the rematch.
“We’re finalising the location at the moment, his team are in London this week so we’re gonna sit down with them.
“I think in two weeks time we’ll finalise the date. It will be July.
“And hopefully AJ can become a three-time heavyweight world champion.”
Latest reports state that July 23 in Saudi Arabia is the target date and location.
