Talks over a Tyson Fury fight with Anthony Joshua are back in motion, with Croke Park in Dublin now the latest possible stage for a bout that has been discussed for more than six years. Fury is due to face Arslanbek Makhmudov at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this weekend, while Joshua is still recovering from a car crash in December that killed his two dearest friends.
The size of the fight has never been the issue. Joshua, 6ft 5in (197cm), and Fury have long been the two names that British boxing has circled for a meeting that would carry enough weight to fill a major stadium and enough history to turn every negotiating point into a fight of its own. The proposed bout would be backed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth through Turki Al-Sheikh, which keeps it alive even after years of missed chances.
Those missed chances have come for a familiar list of reasons: defeats, exclusive TV contracts, sponsorship disputes, purse splits and even a U.S. judge ordering Fury to face Deontay Wilder for a third time. Back in 2018, Joshua held the WBA, WBO and IBF titles while Wilder held the WBC belt, but the four-belt picture still did not deliver the heavyweight meeting fans wanted.
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Shelly Finkel, who has long been tied to Wilder's side of the negotiations, said Joshua made his position plain. “Get me the $50million and you got it (a fight),” Finkel said, adding later that an email offer was sent for a Las Vegas fight and “it didn’t happen.” He also recalled Joshua's camp as resistant at the time, saying Eddie Hearn was protecting his fighter and did not want to make the Joshua and Deontay fight.
Frank Smith, speaking from Joshua's side of the sport, pushed back on the idea that the Briton ever shied away from the biggest nights. He pointed to the scale of Joshua's drawing power and said Wilder was not matching that level of pull at the time. Smith also said Joshua fought Oleksandr Usyk twice, noting that he was never afraid of anyone.
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The next step may depend less on whether Fury and Joshua want the fight than on when Joshua can return. He may want a warm-up bout this summer before taking on Fury, which would add another hurdle to a contest that has already survived six years of delays and near-misses. If it finally comes together, the fight will arrive not as a fresh idea but as the ending boxing has spent years postponing.
