The Klitschko vs Joshua talks have been shut down! The possibilities of a premier heavyweight “superfight” between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko had promoter Eddie Hearn working overtime for the last several weeks to finalize, but his effort has apparently had no success. The date has been moved to December 10th and the Manchester Arena appears to be the site, but the final agreement between Klitschko and Joshua has not been reached. Now it appears that the fight will not happen.
https://soundcloud.com/getmoresports/talk-n-shoot-podcast-episode-25
News is hitting the internet that Wladimir Klitschko has signed to fight Lucas Browne in Hamburg, Germany on December 10th for a vacant version of the WBA world title.
Hearn will now be hunting an alternative opponents for Joshua. Hearn would be foolish to let a young 26 year old champion sit out and not fight because of semantics. The IBF’s #1 contender is New Zealand’s Joseph Parker, but news from the WBO’s 29th annual convention in Puerto Rico is that they have sanctioned Parker vs undefeated Andy Ruiz Jr (29-0) for New Zealand on December 10th.
Unfortunately for Hearn, the end game of producing Joshua vs Klitschko has not worked out, and he will now be looking at a list that is likely to include the likes of David Haye, Derrick Chisora and David Price.
Klitschko vs Joshua Done, Plus PBC Woes
The second half of the podcast was dedicated to the current state of the Premier Boxing Champions. The PBC burst onto the scene with almost weekly boxing shows on free television in the United States starting back in March of 2015. They ran 45 shows in 2015, but 2016 has seen them appear to scale back. The PBC was founded on a huge intake of cash from a hedge fund, and shadowy leader Al Haymon was managing a war chest of approximately half a billion dollars, but 2016 has seen heavy rumors and allegations of money shortages.
Here, the TnS Boxing Podcast explores other problematic aspects of where the PBC finds itself midway through October of 2016. The roster of fighters under contract to the PBC is said to number between 200-300 fighters and that is a whole lot of fighters that are inactive and waiting for an opponent, a fight date or any hint of a plan.
The PBC has always acted aloof, if not arrogantly, about revealing their plans. They have been short with the media and kingpin Al Haymon is completely withdrawn from the public eye. And that is fine as a strategy with the media, and for the first year, the fighters were fighting and part of something new, so they all appeared to be ‘in” on the plan. Now however many fighters are rumbling behind the scenes, and some even more publicly, about the lack of diretion and schedule. Their website has exactly one fight on the calendar through the end of the year, which makes it look like the PBC is basically calling in the last three months of this year. Not telling the media your plan is one thing, but keeping the employees informed is another story and the PBC is apparently not doing that either.
Klitschko vs Joshua Done / Check out more boxing news and features at The Sweet Science.
