Eddie Hearn, the promoter of Anthony Joshua says that a unification bout with Tyson Fury is “realistic” for February.
The all-British fight looked set for August before an arbitration hearing stated Deontay Wilder had the right to a third shot at Fury.
The fight between the controversial fighter and his mandatory challenger has been scheduled for the 9th October while Joshua makes a voluntary defence against Oleksandr Usyk on the 25th September.
Hearn said that talks with Fury’s camp will take place after those fights.
Hearn said during an interview with Talk Sport, “We always wanted to do it in December. But with Anthony fighting on the 25th September and Fury now delayed until October, I think February is more realistic.”
Fury, a red-headed demon of the ring at 6ft 9in and over 200lbs with bulging muscles on giant limbs is set to take on Joshua in what promises to be an epic battle.
Fury, 32, is the WBC champion while Joshua, 31, has the WBA, WBO and IBF belts.
The two heavyweight champions have agreed to fight in Saudi Arabia on the 14th August, which will decide the undisputed world champion since Lennox Lewis back in 2000.
Hearn said that with the crowd restrictions lifted, they could now have a showdown in either Las Vegas or England. He also mentioned how no new talks had been made about this “super fight.”
“I spent six months wasting my time so let’s get these fights out of the way and see what happens.”
“We’ve pretty much got a deal in place from the last conversations that I think still works and everyone would be happy with.”
“I do believe Tyson Fury wants the fight with Anthony Joshua, and I know AJ wants that fight more than ever, but there are certainly people within Fury’s team that don’t want the fight.”
“Joshua would fight Fury with or without the belts”
Anthony says Fury’s camp should have been open about the rematch clause with Wilder, which was crucial to the arbitration verdict, when they began negotiations.
This can’t be an excuse for not fighting Joshua, they should have made it clear from the get-go,” he told Gary Neville on The Overlap.
“We got the deal to the line. My management team and my promoters, we’ve done everything we can to make this happen.”
“They bailed out, not only on me, but on the boxing world because this is a legacy fight.”
Asked if he would fight Fury after their next fight, even if one of them loses, Joshua responded “I rate that”
“We’ll fight, 100%, let’s do it. I’ll smoke that guy. I will. It’s annoying.”
The question of whether Fury’s knockout power will be enough to outmatch Joshua’s athleticism remains up in the air, but boxing fans are already gearing up for a battle that promises an exciting fight.
