Bob Arum believes Eddie Hearn is trying to prevent a fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua against the latter’s will, reports boxingnews24.com.

Negotiations between Fury and Joshua’s teams are ongoing, although it hasn’t been smooth sailing as the WBC heavyweight champion has continuously threatened to call the fight off if the contract isn’t signed by a certain date.

Fury is frustrated by delays to the signing of the contract, and his promoter Frank Warren has also expressed concerns over how much time Joshua’s team is taking.

Arum, Fury’s US-based promoter, has become the latest figure to comment on the delays, accusing Hearn of purposefully stalling negotiations when speaking to TalkSport.

“Eddie Hearn is stalling everything because he doesn’t want the fight to happen,” Arum said.

“And why doesn’t he want the fight to happen? Because Joshua’s lost three out of his last five fights and he figures to lose again if he fights Fury and so Eddie is in effect being an impediment.

“I don’t know of any issues, he sends a draft and then Frank and George reply and then we don’t hear from Eddie for days, he’s stalling until it dies of its own volition.

“I don’t think Joshua is part of that. I think Joshua for whatever reason wants the fight to happen, I know Fury does. But, Eddie doesn’t and so Eddie is doing whatever he can to prevent the fight from happening.”

There seemed to be little in the way of a fight between the two British heavyweights happening at first, as Joshua quickly agreed to a purse split, venue, date and rematch clause, but considerable doubts now linger.

Fury has said he will fight Mahmoud Charr if a bout with Joshua cannot be agreed upon, while his father has put Andy Ruiz Jr., Luis Ortiz and Filip Hrgovic forward as other potential opponents.

Meanwhile, Joe Joyce has offered to fight Joshua in December, although Hearn is unlikely to be keen for his fighter to face an opponent of such high quality if Arum is correct about him purposefully stalling negotiations with Fury. (AFP via Guardian)

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