NEWSFEEDZONE

Eddie Hearn is Dillian Whyte and Chantelle Cameron’s promoter and talks to BBC Sport about Cameron’s unification fight against Mary McGee and Whyte’s options after injury forced him to withdraw from his bout against Otto Wallin.

This sport is full of highs and lows. When we got the call last week that Dillian Whyte was injured, you’re automatically faced with the disappointment of losing the main event, the fans disappointment of losing the main event and then bigger than that – what do we do?

On one hand it’s easy to walk away from the show. You’ve sold 13,000 tickets, but now the refunds are flying out and you no longer have a main event, so what’s the point?

On the other hand you have nine other fights that are already made – unified world championship clashes, career-defining moments and some top British prospects. But more importantly 18 fighters that have worked tirelessly for the last 10 weeks to get themselves in physical condition, ready to work, ready to get paid and ready to chase their dreams.

None more so than the unified world championship fight between Chantelle Cameron and Mary McGee. It’s the first semi-final of our ‘road to undisputed’ tournament at 140lb.

Cameron, who may already be pound-for-pound one of the top fighters in the women’s sport, faces American world champion McGee for the WBC, IBF and inaugural Ring magazine titles. I felt to walk away from this show would not only be doing the fighters on the card an injustice, but the growth of women’s boxing.

You’ve seen a women’s world championship event headline a show on Sky Sports last week. Next week in Las Vegas, Mikaela Mayer fights Maiva Hamadouche in a unified world championship event that headlines a show on ESPN. So there is tremendous momentum in the women’s sport – Cameron against McGee is set to be a cracking addition to a blossoming female schedule.

Women deserve headline slots

This ‘road to undisputed’ tournament is so simple. All the world championship belts are on the line in two semi-finals and a final. The winner comes out undisputed.

How great would the sport be if there was one single champion in every division? Fortunately, in female boxing, you have the opportunity to make that happen.

That is down to: one – the desire of the champions; two, the lack of politics of other promoters and networks; three – they haven’t yet earned the kind of money that is available in tournaments such as these.

We started this tournament in October and by the spring of next year we will be able to crown an undisputed champion in the 140lb weight class. And I would say that final will be between Cameron and Kali Reis.

It’s no secret since Katie Taylor walked into my office eight years ago, we’ve been fully committed to the growth of female boxing. No-one has invested in the women’s code like Matchroom and no-one understands it better. It is however very encouraging to see other promoters and broadcasters now do the same.

We’re also in negotiations with Jake Paul to stage the biggest female fight of all time at Madison Square Garden between undisputed lightweight world champion Taylor and the seven-time world champion Amanda Serrano. It’s only a matter of time before female events start getting the attention they deserve.

Fury v Whyte ‘would fill a stadium for sure’

I know there’s been a lot of speculation regarding Whyte and his injury, but for us it’s a lot more simple than that. When the WBC confirmed he would be the mandatory challenger to the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder winner around a month ago, we spoke internally as a team and remained fully committed to proceeding with the Otto Wallin fight.

Whyte hasn’t boxed since March. Quite frankly he was making a huge amount of money for the Wallin fight and he’d already been training for it since May.

A couple of weeks on, Whyte picked up an injury to his right shoulder. This was assessed by a doctor and treated. He took a very short rest from sparring and the following week returned to sparring, only to have to cut short a session, unable to continue. This was followed by further assessment and an MRI scan, where his doctor confirmed he was unable to go ahead with the fight.

Whyte had five sparring partners in Portugal, had spent an absolute fortune on a training camp. No-one wanted to fight more than Whyte. Unfortunately, injuries happen, especially with the big boys. His withdrawal from the fight benefitted no one.

I’ve spoken to Wallin’s team at length, Whyte’s options are now to look at rescheduling the Wallin fight or, of course, much more likely go straight into the challenge of Fury for the world heavyweight title early in 2022.

Let’s be honest, he’s waited long enough for this opportunity and what a great fight for world boxing. No-one deserves a shot at the world heavyweight title more than Whyte.

Coming off his great win against Deontay Wilder, it would be great to see Fury fight back in the UK. I couldn’t think of a more perfect fight. I think it’s the biggest all-British heavyweight fight since Lennox Lewis against Frank Bruno in 1993.

Fury hasn’t fought in the UK since 2018. With his profile now, following the three Wilder fights, and the popularity of Whyte, that one would fill a stadium for sure.

‘AJ still hurting’

The boxing rumour mill was in full force following Anthony Joshua’s trip to the States. I was out there with AJ in what was a mixture of a holiday and a little bit of training as well. I wouldn’t look too deeply into the trip other than this is just part of the preparation to become a three-time world champion.

All that is in AJ’s head is beating Oleksandr Usyk in a rematch. He knows he has to improve. He knows he has to come in with a better gameplan.

He spoke with a number of trainers and visited a number of gyms, not as an interview process, but as an experience. To look at different set-ups, speak to great minds about the fight and put a slightly different perspective on things.

It was nice for AJ to move around in public in the US without the pressure of hundreds of photographs and signatures, of which he always gladly gives. I wonder whether his training camp will take place in the States for this fight?

You can see the defeat is still hurting him, which quite frankly is great to see. It shows you how much he wants it. There are many people that, following a defeat like that, would bury their head in the sand, go on holiday, lose focus and spend their time eating and drinking. That’s not the case with AJ.

You’re going to see a different Anthony Joshua in the rematch, I’m sure of that. We’ll talk together as a team for how preparation should look for what will be a crunch clash next spring.