Tyson Fury has issued a message to Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn – and has assured him that he is “100% serious” about making a fight with Joshua for the WBC heavyweight title.
Fury took to social media yesterday to call out Joshua for a December showdown, evoking a huge response from boxing fans across the globe.
Matchroom boss Hearn, however, responded saying that he didn’t believe Fury was serious about facing Joshua, but that he’d be willing to make the fight.
The Gypsy King wasted no time in biting back at Hearn, taking to Twitter this morning to reaffirm that his callout of Joshua was genuine – but that “normal champion to challenger privileges” would apply.
This is easy fight to make normal champion to challenger privileges, & I’m 100% serious 🧐
Let’s rumble uk 🇬🇧 https://t.co/tV2CeNXOyg
— TYSON FURY (@Tyson_Fury) September 6, 2022
What Fury means by these “privileges” could be anyone’s guess. With regards to a purse split, although Fury is the man with the belt, Joshua remains a huge commercial draw and, despite him no longer being champion, it is likely his team would be looking for a purse that fairly represents his stock. Having said that, Fury as champion would be entitled to the lion’s share.
The WBC’s rules state that a mandatory challenger will be granted 45 per cent of a purse split, but this wasn’t the case in Fury’s recent fight with Dillian Whyte and, much more importantly, Joshua isn’t mandatory – it would be a voluntary defence. It appears that champion / challenger terms, in this instance, may mean whatever ‘The Gypsy King’ decides.
TV rights would likely prove to be another stumbling block – with Fury the prized asset of BT Sport and Joshua having just signed a bumper deal to fight exclusively on DAZN.
British fight fans will hope these issues can somehow be resolved and that we finally see the domestic dust up to end all domestic dust ups.