Bob Arum believes Tyson Fury will ‘answer the bell’ in a fight for the undisputed crown.
The Top Rank head honcho looks after ‘The Gypsy King’s’ affairs Stateside.
Arum revealed that the WBC champion is biding his time before deciding on his comeback.
Fury was most recently in action in April when he retained his world title with a sixth-round stoppage of number one contender Dillian Whyte at Wembley Stadium in London.
He then retired on his 34th birthday, claiming to have had enough of the sport, with the WBC’s president Mauricio Sulaiman giving him until August 26 to confirm his retirement in writing before considering the status of the title.
But Arum doesn’t believe that the latest sabbatical of the character will be a permanent one, despite all the noises being made by the man who recently relinquished the Ring Magazine belt.
In an interview with Sky Sports ahead of Friday’s weigh-in between Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua, Arum said:
“It’s really the only fight that makes sense for Tyson Fury.
If Usyk wins the fight, that will be quite easy to do because we’re very close to the Usyk people because they’re the people that manage Vasiliy Lomachenko who fights for us.”
Ukraine’s Usyk will take on Fury’s fellow Brit ‘AJ’ in Saudi Arabia in a rematch for the WBA Super, IBF, IBO and WBO world heavyweight titles after dethroning the Londoner at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last September.
The Ring belt vacated by Fury will also be at stake on Saturday night, at the Jeddah Superdome, as Joshua looks to become a three-time unified global ruler and set up a potential all-British showdown with ‘The Gypsy King’.
Eddie Hearn is the man who promotes Joshua and has done so since he made his professional debut back in October 2013 and saw his charge sign an official career-long promotional deal with the Brentwood-based company four days before his defeat to Usyk 11 months ago.
Arum added:
“If Joshua wins, Eddie Hearn is his promoter and we’ve talked with Eddie many times about matches and I’m sure we’ll be able to work together on this one.”
Streaming giant DAZN, to whom Joshua committed his broadcasting future back in June in a groundbreaking deal, will show the second fight between Usyk and Joshua in the US, while Sky Sports Box will broadcast the fight in the UK & Ireland after paying a £23million to do so.
“Based on my conversations with Tyson Fury, he will be up for that challenge, the unification with the winner of Usyk and Joshua.
Joshua can beat him if he presses the action, but I like Usyk in the fight. He’s a much better boxer [than Joshua] and I’m confident that [Fury] will answer the bell for that major fight.”