Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua say they both want the fight. Their promoters both say they want the heavyweight war. The boxing world wants the fight. So what’s the hold-up?
Since Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson’s days, the first undisputed heavyweight championship battle has had a good ten days to iron out the kinks.
A 50-50 split was already agreed upon months ago. Therefore, worry may now begin to set in amongst fans that something is wrong.
Why isn’t the British clash in the bag? – Is there a problem with the deal?
FURY vs JOSHUA
Anthony Joshua has been in the news this week after donating a significant amount of money to help amateur boxing in the UK. Simultaneously, Fury is getting ready to enjoy a lovely holiday period with his family after attempts to remove himself from the BBC Sports Personality of the Year backfired.
One thing they did do, though, is to drop Fury from the WBN Fighter of the Year voting for 2020. After consultation with Fury’s UK promoter Frank Warren, World Boxing News decided against putting ‘The Gypsy King’ into another fan vote, just after Fury wanted out very publicly.
Instead, Fury was named Editor’s Choice Fighter of the Year for 2020 due to his impressive win over Deontay Wilder.
With just two days until Christmas, why can’t AJ and Fury give the public an early present by agreeing to the heavyweight collision everyone wants.
Two champions, five belts, one huge encounter, and a partridge in a pear tree are firmly the order of the day this week.
However, all we get are mixed messages from both sides and obstacles in the way.
One minute, Joshua says he wants the fight now and then he says it will happen ‘somewhere down the line’. The next minute, Fury’s team are opening up about the fact old rival Wilder can scupper the fight through his ongoing mediation.
UNDISPUTED HEAVYWEIGHT
Is this bout going to happen next or not? – Transparency should be coming on the daily – if anything – to reassure fans.
In a world where boxing is becoming more and more challenged by other sports, and a lack of super-fights brings a disillusioned following, the last thing we need is any uncertainly that this fight will happen in the first half of 2021.
Weeks after Errol Spence won and the world wanted the Terence Crawford unification badly, that clamor has gone quiet.
So are we just waiting around until the inevitable disappointment, or can we be one hundred percent certain that Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua is on?
That, I’m afraid, is the multi-million dollar question.
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