Following the news of Queen Elizabeth II’s passing, the hall of fame promoter who was at the helm for a potential all-British heavyweight clash has paused discussions.
The whirlwind of news in boxing’s heavyweight division last week was dwarfed by the announcement of the Queen’s death, ending a historic reign of 70 years. All boxing was postponed over the weekend in respect of the Royal Family.
National mourning throughout the UK has also had repercussions elsewhere in the sport. Fans were enjoying a back and forth between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, as the pair and their teams attempted to put together a super fight for Fury’s WBC belt.
The last we heard was on Thursday, September 8, when ‘The Gypsy King’ issued an ultimatum to ‘AJ’: take one of the dates on offer or the fight’s off.
Frank Warren, who was front and centre of the very-public negotiations, has told TalkSPORT Fight Night that talks have been put on hold.
“We’ve put it all on hold at the moment. It wasn’t appropriate obviously. That’s how we feel.”
“We’ve put it on hold and will pick up on it in the next week or so.”
“From our perspective, we don’t feel it is appropriate out of respect for what has happened.”
It’s unclear how this pause in dialogue between Fury’s team and Joshua’s might affect the fight, which was already on a tight schedule in terms of training and promotion – however this update from Warren provides hope that it may still be made.