The Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua super fight may yet face another obstacle, reminding fans of failed attempts to make it happen in the past.
This generation’s heavyweight ‘Battle of Britain’ edges closer, with no promotional politics or title obligations standing in the way. Following Fury’s comeback win over Arslanbek Makhmudov this month, he confirmed that the Joshua fight is the one he wants next.
Though ‘AJ’ did not engage in a face off because there were still negotiations to be had, he said that he believes the fight will happen this year.
As talks continue behind the scenes, Joshua’s side has decided on a relative ‘warm-up’ fight, given his only ring action last year was six rounds against Jake Paul. More notably, he is coming off a serious car crash that left him recovering from injuries and the loss of two close friends, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele.
The plan is for Joshua to return in July, likely in Saudi Arabia, before pushing on with a Fury fight in November or December. It was expected that Fury’s 12 rounds with Makhmudov would serve as his own warm-up, however manager Spencer Brown has now said they will also look to have another outing in the interim.
“We’ve signed, we’re just waiting. We’re ready to go. The thing is, Tyson was out of the ring for two years, just jumped back in, we’ll probably want another fight before the AJ fight – a proper warm-up fight – and then we’re all ready to go, ready to rock and roll … So we are just waiting for Anthony and Eddie Hearn to sign.
“But it will be nice for Tyson to have one more fight before we step in. Anthony wants one more fight, so if it’s in July, we won’t be able to do anything till October, November, December, so it’s going to have to happen quite rapidly.”
Who Fury’s team will target remains to be seen, with both heavyveights now in the market for fights deemed worthy of preparation but not dangerous enough to derail plans for what is still the biggest fight in British boxing.
