14 June 2023 , 09:26
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Chris Eubank believes Eddie Hearn is to blame for Anthony Joshua's demise in the heavyweight division.
Former two-time heavyweight champion Joshua, 33, has looked a shell of the knockout artist he once was in recent fights. The Olympic gold medalist had an unprecedented rise through the divison, looking virtually unbeatable on his way to capturing the unified belts against Wladimir Klitschko in 2017.
Two years after that historic win at Wembley, 'AJ' would lose his belts in a shock upset to Andy Ruiz Jr. Despite winning them back in their rematch later that year, he eventually lost them against Oleksandr Usyk and failed to reclaim the titles in their rematch. Eubank thinks Hearn is at fault for rushing 'AJ' into a world title fight less than three years into his professional career.
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"If at 13 fights his promoter puts him into a world championship fight, he's destroyed him because he hasn't learned the trade," Eubank told talkSPORT. "You're going to come up against fighters like [Andy] Ruiz who are going to expose you. That's the fault of the promoter who is fast-tracking the fighter for money, looking at his muscles, not at the content of his abilities."
Eddie Hearn opens talks for Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou heavyweight fight
'AJ' is expected to fight again in August, potentially against familiar foe Dillian Whyte, before a likely showdown against Deontay Wilder at the end of the year in Saudi Arabia. Joshua's longtime rival Tyson Fury claims he recently offered him a contract for a September meeting, but Hearn denied ever receiving an offer.
Eddie Hearn has been blamed for Anthony Joshua's downfall (PA)Joshua has also been told by pundit Simon Jordan that he doesn't stand a chance against any top heavyweight, as he said on the Up Front podcast: "The boxing world is now turning full circle on Anthony Joshua and saying, ‘You’re done’. I think people are actually beginning to laugh at the concept that Anthony Joshua could beat one of the top heavyweights now.
"In my view is that his demise started after he fought Klitschko, where he went into a certain place to have to win that fight. I think since then he’s gone on and fought in a certain way which has taken him out of the way of risk and he isn’t prepared to put himself in the way of risk that he once did before, when he was a wrecking machine."