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Anthony Joshua’s defence of his three world heavyweight titles against Kubrat Pulev, and Dereck Chisora’s heavyweight battle against Oleksandr Usyk, could both take place at the O2 Arena, Docklands, in front of crowds of 2,000 fans respectively in November and October, according to promoter Eddie Hearn. “We are making plans to stage the rest of the year behind closed doors with the exception of those two events, which will be pay per view,” Hearn said. “We are trialling the world snooker championships with 350 fans at the Crucible in Sheffield and we are working towards crowds in October and the end of November for Dereck and then AJ. “It may be a case of convincing people to attend, and going through the right procedures to get people into the O2 Arena. It won’t be easy, but it’s our ambition to do it.” Pulev is a mandatory challenger to Joshua. If Usyk defeats Chisora, the Ukrainian, who was the undisputed world cruiserweight champion before he stepped up to the heavyweight division, will be in line to challenge Joshua. Elsewhere, however, there is still the Joshua-Tyson Fury contest which fans have been craving, with Hearn explaining that the two fights which the pair have “agreed in principle” will require “a lot for untangling” to make happen in 2021, given that Dillian Whyte – who meets Alexander Povetkin at Hearn’s garden event on Aug 22 – is the mandatory challenger for Fury’s World Boxing Council crown. Fury is still scheduled to face Deontay Wilder in a trilogy fight later this year, most likely in the United States. “Both guys [Fury and Joshua] have accepted the fact that it is agreed, and we are not saying that Fury-Wilder will not happen, but there may be a major issue with the gates and crowds,” added Hearn. “That’s why we have to keep planning and making contingencies for all these fights to go ahead. Last year, the sums of money being earned was out of control. We have got to stop making decisions based on egos, and look at limited capacity events instead for the very biggest fights.”
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