Regardless of its overdue nature, Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury may be one of the biggest possible bouts to book in British boxing history but there remains one clear hurdle everyone needs to clear for it to go from fantasy to reality, Matchroom chairman, Eddie Hearn, said this week.
The fight has long been rumored. Even before an apparent two-fight deal had been extended from the sport’s financier, Turki Alalshikh, to Joshua, via Hearn, when AJ and Fury effectively grew up alongside one another, graduating from red-hot amateurs, to exhilarating prospects, bona fide contenders and, eventually world heavyweight champions.
Before they collide in a prospective Battle of Britain later this year, Joshua will first fight a warm-up against Kristian Prenga in July and Fury, too, is linked with a tune-up of his own — possibly against Dave Allen, who returns to the ring Saturday against Filip Hrgovic.
There is, of course, only one way the super-fight could go wrong. “If either fighter loses [their tune-up] you cannot do the fight,” Hearn told Sky Sports.
“I will feel sick at the ringwalk on July 25,” he said, wary what a loss will do for Joshua, and by extension, Matchroom’s coffers. “Especially with what AJ’s come back from [a tragic car accident]. There is that worry. Will he be the same? Everything we see in camp and in sparring lends us to suggest yes. But there’s a lot to overcome. That’s the importance of this fight as well in July.”
Hearn said: “We have signed to fight Fury. He has signed to fight Anthony Joshua. The only thing that stands in the way is July 25.”
Considering their shared nationality, and popularity in Britain, there is hope that the fight will be staged in England. But nothing, Hearn said, is guaranteed.
“It’s down to Turki,” he said. “He understands the magnitude and the importance of this event in the UK. But also he’s paying the bill.”
