Eddie Hearn is furious that Dana White’s 21-year-old heavyweight prospect Da’Mazion Vanhouter landed the main card spot on Fury vs. Joshua instead of Joe Cordina. Hearn claims he already had terms agreed for Cordina to face 47-year-old Manny Pacquiao in Cardiff on December 11, yet putting a fresh American knockout artist on Netflix makes infinitely more sense than trotting out another nostalgia act.

“What about Joe Cordina? What about a two-time world champion from Wales?” Hearn complained to iFL TV. Let’s be honest: if Hearn wasn’t Cordina’s promoter, he wouldn’t even mention his name for this card.

Cordina’s hometown appeal and past titles give him a thin excuse for a spot, yet the 34-year-old has been largely invisible since Anthony Cacace stopped him. The two low-profile fights he has taken since barely registered with the boxing public because of the weak opposition. Among the fans who know him, he is not a popular attraction, and American viewers tuning in for the main event have zero interest in watching him.

Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are already carrying the promotion based on what they did at their best, while 41-year-old Deontay Wilder brings another aging veteran to the co-feature against Jai Opetaia. Fury is 38 and looks more and more like his 61-year-old father, John Fury. Loading the card with older fighters is a disaster when you are trying to reach younger fans on Netflix who cannot connect to a lineup of relics.

Throwing Cordina into the ring with a 47-year-old Pacquiao would have been pure poison for the broadcast. From Turki Alalshikh’s perspective, there is no value in burning a prime slot on a cash-grab sideshow when the sport desperately needs new blood.

The American market makes the decision even easier. Fury and Joshua easily hook British viewers, whereas Vanhouter (14-0, 11 KOs) gives the U.S. broadcast an exciting domestic heavyweight prospect to get behind. The real payoff for featuring Vanhouter comes down the road, when younger viewers remember his explosive style and tune in for his next fight.

Questions remain about whether Vanhouter is the real deal. He turned pro at 17 in the middleweight ranks before growing into a 6’3½”, 231-pound heavyweight, giving him the footwork, loose mechanics, and compact uppercut of a smaller fighter. Still, he has only logged 27 total pro rounds, meaning his stamina against a durable opponent who can take his early power is completely untested.

Facing Michael Essomba on December 11 leaves room for doubt about the quality of the matchup, and Hearn has tried to attack the competitiveness of the fight to distract from Cordina getting left off. Even with those unknowns, a 21-year-old heavyweight on the rise belongs on this stage far more than a 34-year-old former champion trying to cash out against an aging legend.