Exclusive Interview with Carl Froch

Exclusive w/ Carl Froch: ‘This fight might not happen’ over AJ purse row, Joshua should not sign for Tyson Fury until he is paid and Eddie Hearn has lost the battle if it goes to America

Speaking to NewBettingSites.uk, Former world champion Carl Froch gives his opinion on the Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua saga.

Q. Matchroom is demanding that AJ receives his full outstanding purse from the Prenga fight before they move forward with Fury-Joshua. If you were Eddie Hearn or Anthony Joshua, would you refuse to sign anything until you were fully paid up?

I would never go into my next fight without being paid up full and final for my last fight. Why am I getting back in the ring for my next fight when I’ve not even been paid up for my last fight? It’s like doing a job on a building site. You don’t pay the guy until the job’s done, but when the job’s done, you’ve got to pay him or he’s not going to do another job for you. So, good business from Eddie.

I’m surprised it’s being reported that they have not paid up because I just thought they had endless money. But they might be playing hardball now they’ve teamed up with Dana White and Zuffa, or whoever else is involved in the fight.

But this throws a real sticking point into the fight. There is another bloody, “this fight might not happen” scenario. They’re arguing about where the venue is going to be, or where the fight takes place, and there’s also an issue around money and payment. So is this fight even going to happen? There are question marks over it now.

Q. If you are AJ, do you want your Prenga money before you even think about signing Fury?

Would I not sign up for £80 million because I’m owed money for the Prenga fight? There is a bit of cutting your nose off to spite your face. But you do want paying. You need paying for the last one, because what’s to say you’re going to get paid for the next one if you don’t get paid for that one? So I suppose you’ve got to get squared up before you fight again. That’s what I’d do.

Q. Does that raise alarm bells going into a huge Fury-Joshua deal?

Does it raise alarm bells that there’s money reportedly outstanding from the Joshua-Prenga fight? It does a little bit. But I’d never question the amount of money the Saudis have got, because they’ve got trillions of pounds of oil money. You’ve seen how much money they’ve spent on Formula 1, football, Ronaldo and boxing. They’re not going to run out of cash any time soon. But they might be tightening the belt. They’ve been tightening the belt for the last year or so. They’ve overspent to get into the game. They’ve spent ludicrous amounts of money for the product they’ve been receiving. They’ve properly overspent.

Nobody can chuck money away like the Saudis do, because let’s be honest, that’s what they do. They throw it away. They lose money every time they put a show on. It’s not a business model that works, which I said ages ago. You can’t pay AJ $50 million for going to Saudi for a fight that generates 10 million pay-per-views and no gate money. It’s a losing model.

Q. Should AJ be taking this fight after everything that’s happened

I wouldn’t be fighting. I wouldn’t be taking punches to the brain. When you get old, like he is old, and you’ve been rendered unconscious a few times, why are you getting punched in the head? You’ve only got one life. He has got a kid as well. Save your health. Why are you getting punched in the head for you idiot? F** that. It's great, the money. He’s never going to spend the money, is he? It’s too much to spend. He scraped through a f***ing win against that useless guy from Albania. Just turn it in. Greed, It’s one of the deadly sins.

Q. If the fight ends up at Madison Square Garden, has Eddie lost the power struggle?

If this fight is not in the UK, after Eddie signed a contract to say the fight is in the UK, then he has lost. Unfortunately, he has lost the fight in that sense. If this fight is anywhere but the UK, then Eddie has not done his job. He has not honoured what he said he was going to do. I’m not against Eddie at all, but come on, man, put this fight on in the UK. AJ is your guy. You know what the UK fans have done for you. The Americans don’t give a f*** about AJ. They’re not arsed. The Americans are not going to care about this pair. They’re not bothered. They’ve seen AJ go out there and get splattered by the fat man from Mexico. They’ve seen him lose to Usyk, they’ve seen him get wiped out by Daniel Dubois, then they’ve seen that Jake Paul shite.

The American fight fans would not give a toss about Tyson Fury or Anthony Joshua, I can assure you. If Turki wants the fight over there, for whatever reason, it will probably be over there. To answer your question, if this fight is not in the UK, Eddie has lost the battle. He has not lost the war, but he has lost the battle.

Q. Do you think British fans may boycott it if it goes to America?

Fans may say they’re going to [boycott the fight if it’s in America], and they’ll say they won’t watch it, but bottom line is, they’ll still watch it. They’ll be pissed off, but they’ll watch it through gritted teeth.

Q. If the fight falls through, who is to blame?

Politics is to blame if it falls through. The paymasters are to blame. Who is paying the biggest money? It is their fault. Indirectly, that is the Saudis.

Q. Joshua’s last time at Madison Square Garden was the Andy Ruiz defeat. What kind of effect do you think that arena and environment can have on him?

It might bring back some demons. It might have a bit of a negative effect on him, thinking, “Last time I was here, I was in trouble with Andy Ruiz.”

But I think once that first bell goes, it doesn’t matter where you are. You’re in that ring, the lights are on you, and it feels like you’ve been closed into a small room. There is you, your opponent and the referee. Once you’re in that mindset where you’re just doing it now for the money, you don’t want to get knocked out, you don’t want to get hurt, you don’t want to look stupid, you just want to get in, get paid and go, you’re going to struggle.

I think Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have been in that mindset now for a couple of fights, a couple of years. So AJ is going to struggle every single time he steps in the ring, regardless of where it is. He is literally hanging on the edge of the cliff with the tips of his fingernails, waiting for a disaster to happen. They shouldn’t be fighting. That’s my opinion.

Q. Has AJ’s punch resistance gone?

AJ’s punch resistance, when it’s gone, it’s gone. You see it with fighters before. Amir Khan, David Haye, Roy Jones Jr. Once you can’t take a shot, it doesn’t seem to come back. You can’t do anything to make that chin tough again. Fury is not a massive puncher, but he punches with enough consistency to hurt AJ. He’ll walk him onto a shot, he’ll time him and get him on the way in.

Q. Do you think Team Usyk are the right people to lead AJ into the Fury fight, and would Rob McCracken ever take him back?**

Team Usyk are probably the right team to get him fit and maybe get him in a good mental place. Are they the right team for the corner work after what I watched in that last clip? No, because there is a language problem. There is a communication barrier. Some of the stuff they were saying, I didn’t even understand what they meant by it. It was a bad attempt at a motivational speech.

Should he have Rob in the corner? I think he should have always stayed with Rob McCracken in the corner. Rob McCracken is a man of principles. He is not a man motivated by money. He is motivated by boxing, loyalty, honesty and integrity, and he has got your back.

Would Rob have him back? I can’t speak for Rob McCracken, but I can give my opinion on it. Not a cat in hell’s chance would Rob McCracken ever work with Anthony Joshua, in my opinion. Ever. That ship has sailed. AJ does not deserve somebody like Rob McCracken after the way he treated him.

Q. WBC wants to make it a final eliminator - do either Fury or Joshua beat Agit Kabayel?

I don’t think either of them beat Kabayel. Whoever wins this will either get a rematch with the same guy, or they will retire. They’ve got no intention of fighting for world titles.

Q. With so much attention on Fury-Joshua, is Moses Itauma against Filip Hrgović being overlooked?

Unfortunately, the way boxing works, AJ-Fury is a bigger deal than Itauma-Hrgović. But I will be watching. For boxing purists, I am more interested in the Itauma-Hrgović fight than I am the AJ-Fury fight. Itauma is obviously very talented, very good, very strong, fast, and ticks a lot of boxes. But we don’t know yet. This fight, if he wins, and I think he wins, then we will know that he has beaten somebody who actually belongs around world level.

Q. Frank Warren says Itauma beating Hrgović at 21 would be a greater achievement than Joshua beating Charles Martin. Is that fair?

Yeah, definitely. One hundred per cent [beating Hrgovic is a better win that AJ beating Charles Martin]. Itauma beating Hrgović is a far better fight to win. It is a better scalp. Charles Martin was useless. He won a vacant title and never did anything. Hrgović is a bona fide, solid, Eastern European menace. He is a good fighter and he will give anyone a hard fight.

But I think Itauma is going to be too quick, too fresh. I think he boxes rings around him for a few rounds and possibly gets the stoppage late on. But it will be tough for him, provided he can take one on the chin, because I think Hrgović will hit him on the chin at some point. It is a great test for him. If he wins in style, it is a really good win.

Q. If Netflix and Zuffa offered to put you against John Fury on the AJ-Fury undercard for big money, would you be up for it?

John Fury on the AJ-Fury undercard? Yeah, definitely, but they won’t, because they won’t get licensed. It is a good idea. One hundred per cent I’d fight John Fury. I’d defend myself against a bully every time. No drama. I would accept it.

But It has gone quiet. I saw him punching a bag the other day. It didn’t do much for me. I don’t understand what he is doing. He talks about fighting but then never does. It is boring now. I think he has made a fool of himself.

Q. Put Terence Crawford, Canelo, Andre Ward, Joe Calzaghe and Carl Froch into a tournament at 168. Who wins it?

That is a great tournament. Crawford and Canelo are not naturally that big. Calzaghe has got a high work rate and is tough, and the good big one beats the good little one. Put Ward at one. Ward comes first. Me and Calzaghe fight in the semi-final, and we get a draw. Basically, Ward at one, me and Calzaghe joint second, and the smaller boys below.

Q. Prime David Haye against prime Anthony Joshua, who wins?

I fancy Haye in that. He was so quick, he had explosive power, and Joshua can’t take a punch. I don’t think Joshua actually liked it when he was fighting. I don’t think he enjoyed it.

The Hayemaker used to lick his lips, get in there and love it. He would properly have a go. I think the tenacity of Haye and the explosive power wins it.

People will say, “Look at Haye against Klitschko.” Klitschko was too big for him. Klitschko was cute, holding back, staying out of his way, being tricky and horrible. AJ is not that good. AJ beat a 42-year-old Klitschko who had been on the sofa for 18 months. So I’m backing David Haye to beat Joshua in a fantasy fight.