By: Sean Crose
“Eddie,” promoter Eddie Hearn recently quoted promoter Bob Arum as saying, “I think you should stop talking about Fury vs Joshua.” Hearn went on to tell iFL TV that Arum had his reasons for his statement. “You’re talking and then Frank’s gonna wanna talk and I’m gonna wanna say something,” Hearn said Arum claimed. “Let’s just go quiet until we sign the deal and all announce it together.” Hearn found himself agreeing with his American counterpart. A highly anticipated fight, Tyson Fury versus Anthony Joshua would essentially unify the heavyweight division under one dominant fighter. Yet a deal isn’t done yet, and so, for now at least, mums the word.
Fury, who many felt was a has-been not so long ago while the man suffered from mental illness and substance abuse, roared back to the heights of the sport when he dominated WBC champion Deontay Wilder in the rematch of their 2019 battle last year. After talk, much of it legal, of a third Wilder fight fell through, the possibility of an all British superfight with WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titlist Joshua began to heat up. And although neither Fury nor Wilder have fought in roughly a year, each man appears eager to face off.
What now makes a Fury-Joshua fight particularly intriguing is the back story each man has. While Fury appears to have overcome his demons, Joshua was able to overcome a stunning and crushing defeat at the gloved hands of Andy Ruiz back in 2019. Rather than fall apart to one degree or other, as Wilder has appeared to since his rematch with Fury, Joshua took the opportunity to grow as fighter. In the first fight with Ruiz, Joshua was a puncher. In the rematch, he was a boxer. Like Fury, Joshua would enter the ring with the satisfaction of emerging successfully from a challenging time. That sort of thing, simply put, makes for a fan friendly event.
The question now is when will a Fury-Joshua fight be signed into reality? Again, it’s being indicated that negotiations are going along well. Still, there always seems to be a reason for major fights NOT to come to fruition. Boxing is not the UFC. Top matches must be negotiated rather than ordered. In an era where high end fighters don’t battle as much as they used to, events of this scale seem to come to be at an absolutely glacial pace. Should Fury-Wilder become a reality sooner rather than later, however, fans will undoubtedly be satisfied nonetheless.