Negotiations Begin For Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua Unification Fight

Negotiations for arguably the biggest heavyweight boxing match in years, between Tyson Fury (30-0-1) and Anthony Joshua (23-1), have begun. This is according to the information obtained by ESPN’s Mark Kriegel through his sources earlier today.

If the deal goes down, the world could finally see a match which would unite all the notable heavyweight titles, Joshua’s IBF, WBA, IBO and WBO belts, and Fury’s The Ring and WBC belts.

As reported, Fury and his co-promotors (Top Rank and Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions) are represented in these negotiations by the management agency MTK Global, which has its office in Dubai.

Sources also told Kriegel that MTK is in talks primarily due to a disagreement between Warren and Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing.

As both Fury and Joshua are UK residents, it would make sense that the fight happens on British soil, but that apparently won’t be the case. According to the information available, the match is likely take place in Saudi Arabia, or somewhere else in the Arabian Peninsula.

However, it is improtant to note that the offer which Fury is ought to receive must be substantial enough to ensure Deontay Wilder to step down. As it is known, Wilder has activated a contractual clause, which gives him the right to an immediate rematch against Fury, to whom he lost via a seventh round stoppage in February.

Kriegel’s sources stated that Wilder’s team knows about the negotiations for Fury vs Joshua, but Wilder’s adviser Shelly Finkel said otherwise.

“As far as we’re concerned, the next fight [for Wilder] is the third fight [with Fury],” Finkel said to ESPN.

Similarly to Fury’s contractual problem with Wilder, Joshua has a mandatory challenger in Kubrat Pulev, who he was scheduled to face in June before the bout was cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak. His promotor Hearn identified this as one of the main issues as well.

“We’re talking to MTK about where that fight would take place. At the moment, the main focus for everybody [is] the contractual situations,” Hearn told ESPN.

Eminent boxing insider Mike Coppinger also reported on this, exposing the main problems.

Scheduling the place and date for Fury vs Joshua is a big issue in the light of the global unpredictability of coronavirus trends.

“The conversations between myself and MTK are that we’ve had an approach. We’ve had a number of approaches from territories to stage that fight,” Hearn said. “So the only discussions at the moment are where this fight takes place — and we don’t even know when this fight could take place. … We’re certainly open to have discussions about the possibility of this happening this year or in the next fight.

“There’s more chance at the moment that the bigger money could come next year because we don’t even know if we can do live crowds in November, December.”

Top Rank’s Bob Arum said that they will see what offers come in from the Middle East.

“Let’s see what type of offers we get from the Middle East. because there is a real frenzy with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, with the Emirates, to do events, to open up these countries in the winter and into next year. It would be foolish for us to not consider those types of offers.”

As far as Fury is concerned, he doesn’t mind traveling for the right amount.

“I’ll fight in Timbuktu if the money’s right,” he told ESPN. “I have a bag, and I will travel.”

Who do you see as the undisputed heavyweight champion after a potential fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua?


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