It has been over four months since Anthony Joshua’s (29-4, 26 KOs) victory against Jake Paul (12-2, 7 KOs) and the tragedy that took place after. However, boxing fans have a rather selfish question in mind: when will he fight Tyson Fury (35-2-1. 24 KOs)? According to promoter Eddie Hearn, the fight might happen a lot sooner than many expect.
In conversation, Hearn shed light on potential contracts in the works for Joshua and on what the former champ’s mindset was ahead of a potential return to the ring.
“We received the contracts at the end of last week for their proposal of the two fights, and we’ve been going back and forth, and we continue to do that. My instructions from AJ are to make the fight, and that’s what we’ll be trying to do. I wouldn’t really say there are sticking points, but obviously when you receive a contract, it’s very natural to go back with a lot of stuff,” he said. “It’s nothing major, a little bit about who he fights in July, when he fights, where the fight’s going to be.”
AJ is coming back after a tragic accident involving his friends and himself. The fight would not just be a mere comeback for him, but rather expected to showcase immense mental and emotional grit on top of the physical stress.
But would a Fury fight make sense? Hearn has been chasing a fight between Joshua and Fury for well over a decade, realistically since around 2016–2017 when both became top heavyweights, and it’s been in serious negotiation cycles multiple times. An all-British showdown at this time would undoubtedly be a massive crowd puller.
“Fury was trying to palm it off that we’ve had our warm-up fight against Jake Paul, which I thought was a bit cheeky, but I expect us to fight someone of the same kind of level as Makhmudov and then fight Fury. The deal that we’ve been offered is not to fight Tyson Fury straight away, and that’s our preferred option,” Hearn added. “We’re happy with that, and we expect to be out in July and then fight Fury in November.”
“No Problem Fighting Wilder”
Meanwhile, a fight that has taken a back seat due to this is Joshua’s potential showdown against Deontay Wilder. But Hearn has news for him too; Wilder could expect a fight negotiation coming his way very soon.
“If we were promoting the event, that’s exactly what I’d be doing, making the Wilder. But this is a deal put to us with Fury against AJ as the mountain top of that deal,” he said. “AJ has told me that he will fight Wilder and Fury back-to-back. We have no problem fighting Wilder.”
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