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Joshua shuns Wilder, Fury fight for movies

Anthony Joshua is not attending Saturday’s blockbuster heavyweight showdown in Los Angeles, Eddie Hearn has confirmed.

Wilder is defending his WBC heavyweight title against Fury in one of the most intriguing match-ups of the last decade.

Fury, who only returned from a 31-month exile from the sport over the summer, faces a monumental task in dethroning the unbeaten American – who has claimed 39 of his 40 victories by knockout.

The winner of Saturday’s bout will surely go on and face unified chief Anthony Joshua to decide who the undisputed heavyweight king is.

Yet, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has revealed ‘AJ’ will not be in attendance when his two rivals lock horns at the Staples Centre.

“No, we won’t [be at the fight],” he told Sky Sports.

“We’ve got our show in Italy on Friday and AJ goes out on Tuesday to film in America with Under Armour. He’ll also be at the Canelo fight with DAZN and he’ll be doing a lot of media stuff around there.

“Will he watch? Probably, yeah.

“I haven’t really spoke to him about the fight that much. He’s just focused on Deontay Wilder.

“If Fury wins and the rematch clause kicks in, we know we’ve gotta move on ourselves, but my instruction is: make that fight [with Wilder].”

Over the past year, Hearn has become embroiled in a bitter war of words with Wilder and his team as their attempts to negotiate a clash with Joshua hit several stumbling blocks.

It is believed Hearn and Joshua rebuffed a mouthwatering $80m offer to fight the Bronze Bomber twice in America and the UK.

But Hearn insists he will be straight on the phone to Wilder’s team should the latter see off Fury this Saturday.

“As soon as this fight’s over, they haven’t really wanted to speak to me before it, so if Wilder wins, we’ll be on him on Sunday saying: ‘any chance now?’” he said.

“And if they say no again, I don’t know what else we can do.

“They keep wanting to bluff in the public and say: ‘oh we want the fight.’ But they’re not trying to make the fight. This is the crazy thing about it.

“If they’re true to their word, on December 2nd, if they beat Tyson Fury, we will immediately start negotiations and we’ll see where we get to.”

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