By Tim Royner: Promoter Frank Warren says the purse split for the Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury fight should be 50-50 right down the middle for the super-fight in the UK. Fury, 29, currently wants a 60-40 deal for the Joshua fight, but that’s not sitting too well for AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn.
He’s rumored to be interested in paying Fury far less than that in the 30 percent range. If Hearn is going to hold out hoping that he can get Fury for a mere 30 percent of the take, then the Fury-Joshua fight will never happen. Instead, Joshua will need to be satisfied with fighting Deontay Wilder, Alexander Povetkin, Joseph Parker and Dillian Whyte.
Fury is expected to sign with Warren in a multi-fight deal.
Getting the negotiations put together for the Joshua vs. Fury fight won’t be easy even if they do agree on the purse split, which seems unlikely. One area that will further complicate the negotiations is the networks. Joshua fights on Sky, whereas Fury will soon be fighting on BT Sport. Warren feels that the Joshua-Fury fight is big enough for it to be televised on both networks without it being an issue. We’ll have to see if Hearn is willing to go along with that. If not, then there won’t be a fight.
“I don’t care how it’s done let’s just get it done and get it on. I think Tyson needs a couple first to get himself match fit and then he can go for it. Why wouldn’t he?” Warren said to the Independent. “When it comes to the split – do you know what – all that [expletive] is irrelevant. You’ve got two guys – let’s just put it straight down the middle 50:50.”
Hearn is going to have to agree to at least a 50-50 deal if he wants to get the Joshua-Fury fight done. The longer Hearn puts it off the more likely he’ll end up with nothing. Fury doesn’t need Joshua to make good money fighting the likes of Deontay Wilder, Alexander Povetkin, Jarrell Miller and Shannon Briggs. Fury can make a small fortune fighting those guys. As long as Fury wins all of his fights, he’s going to make a fortune in his career. It would be hard to imagine Hearn not giving in and agreeing to at least a 50-50 deal to make the Joshua vs. Fury fight. If Hearn holds out for a 70-30 split for Joshua. he’s going to be out of luck.
The former heavyweight champion Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) hasn’t fought since beating Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015. Fury recently received clearance from UKAD and the British Boxing Board of Control to resume his career. However, Fury still needs to lose a lot of weight before he can make his comeback fight in April against a still to be determined opponent. Fury has lost close to 60 pounds, but he’s got at least 60 to 80 more to lose before he’ll be ready to fight in April.