By Jim Maltzman: Tyson Fury is offering Anthony Joshua and his promoters at Matchroom Boxing to sit down with him to potentially set-up fight in December if the trilogy match against Deontay Wilder fails to happen.
WBC heavyweight champion Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) isn’t sure whether Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) is interested in facing him in December or not.
Fury and his promoter Frank Warren will learn more in the next month whether former WBC champion Wilder is interested in taking the fight with him still. If Wilder doesn’t wish to take the match, then Fury is willing to face IFF/WBA/WBO champion Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) in a unification fight.
That’s the match that all of the fans worldwide want to see, and Dillian Whyte has been cleared from the path of the Fury vs Joshua fight.
Joshua would need to walk away from his IBF mandatory Kubrat Pulev for him to face Fury in December. That would mean that AJ would need to vacate his IBF belt and something that he might not want to do.
Fury ready for Joshua in December
“I don’t know,” said Fury to BT Sport Boxing when asked if he sees a fight between him and Joshua happening. “If the Wilder fight doesn’t happen, then let’s do Joshua in December.
“Why not? It’s a boxing match. Let’s get it on. I’m ready to go now. I could fight him in the ring tonight. It really doesn’t matter. I’ll still kick his a** anytime in the day. It doesn’t matter anyway,” said Fury about Joshua.
But do I see the fight happening anytime soon? Hopefully, they grow a pair, and they [Eddie Hearn and Joshua]. If I was in their position, and I had my chance for glory, and I’d gone to America and beaten Wilder, but they didn’t take it,” said Fury about Joshua choosing not to face Wilder.
The magic question is, will Joshua be willing to fight Fury in December? We know that AJ is preparing to face Kubrat Pulev in December, but it’s a whole new ballgame when you talk about Fury. Joshua might want more time to prepare for Fury than the four months that he has remaining before December
Joshua seems pretty nonchalant about fighting the 39-year-old Pulev, treating that match-up like it’s a win in the bag. But it would be a lot different for AJ if he were to suddenly learn that he’ll be facing Fury in December instead of Pulev.
Will Joshua go along with that idea or will he dig in his heels and sabotage the negotiations?
Tyson wants Joshua to grow a pair
“So I had to come out of retirement, take the #1 spot and take all the glory, and now they’re [Team Joshua] all looking up to me. He [AJ] must be sitting down thinking, ‘That could have been me,’ but it wasn’t.
“It is what it is. It’s their own fault. Whether it was bad management, bad advice, they didn’t want to fight for whatever reason, it’s played a massive part. All the cards have been dealt, and they [Matchroom Boxing, Hearn, and Joshua] have to come through me.
“So what I’m saying is grow a pair and come see the champ, and I’ll sort you all out. But I’m just waiting here patiently. I can’t be stopped, and I can’t be rocked, I can’t be touched and can’t be moved.
“I have no fights on the horizon, and I’m trying like a lunatic, running up mountain. I’ve become a human racehorse. I’m looking forward to all challenges.
“Whatever they are, bring them to the ‘Gypsy King,’ and I’ll excitingly deal with them. I’m taking my career very, very seriously now. As you can tell, I’m in fantastic shape,” said Fury.
Joshua and Hearn weren’t excited about fighting former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder when he and his team attempted to put fight together with him in 2018. Wilder gave up on the fight. So it’s possible that Hearn and AJ will choose not to face Fury in 2021, even though they already have a two-fight deal.
Matchroom are invited to start Fury-Joshua negotiations
“I’m really looking forward to some challenges because, as of late, I don’t get any challenges,” Fury continued. “It’s pretty easy for me. I’m still good looking. Look at this face—32 fights later, 32-years-old, still good looking as ever. I still have my faculties.
“I can still talk, walk, dance, sing, and whatever. It’s all fun and games,” Fury said.
“We know everybody in this country [UK] wants to see one fight, and that’s Tyson against AJ,” said Warren. “Everybody wants to see that, and we have to. It’s our obligation to make sure that happens and not cheat the fans. Grow a pair and come make the fight,” said Warren.
“We’re all interested in talking and sitting down as adults,” said Fury in sending a message to Joshua, Hearn, and Matchroom. “Come to the table, bring your handbags and let’s do it.”
Hearn sounds like he doesn’t fancy the idea of letting Joshua fight Fury, because he keeps pushing Dillian Whyte on ‘The Gypsy King.’ Eddie wouldn’t make that kind of move unless he was worried about Fury beating Joshua. Once AJ gets beaten again, he could be on his way out of the sport.
Fury-Wilder still possible for December 19
“We’re almost there, hopefully. We’ll get the big fight and get it on,” said Fury to BT Sport Boxing on his December trilogy fight against Deontay Wilder.
“It all depends on what’s going on in the world, and if we’re allowed people back in the venue. The way things are at the moment, things change all the time. Hopefully, fingers crossed, we’ll have that big Wilder rematch,” said Fury.
“At the moment, we don’t know where we are,” said Frank Warren. “The idea is to try and get it on the 19th in the States or another territory, and that’s what we’re working on collectively to do all of us, and that’s what we want.
“Tyson wants what Bob Arum of Top Rank, and we want it. MTK and everyone that has worked on it, we want to make sure it happens. But our hands are tied. In every country, something different is happening.
“It all depends on two things. Either we have a big live crowd in and get the audience back in. If that doesn’t happen, then we need a big guarantee with a site fee, and sometimes they go together.
“So we have to see what happens. That’s what I was saying. If somebody comes up with a site fee, and there are people at the moment that are talking about doing that, and we are talking about a number of people, and we’ll see hat happens.
“We want to get it on for Tyson. He’s been training hard since February. He wants the fight, and that’s what we want, and that’s what we got to deliver,” said Warren.
If Team Fury offers Wilder a step aside payment, then it’s possible he may temporarily step aside so that the match against Joshua can take place. The problem with that is Fury’s team isn’t going to offer Wilder money to step aside temporarily.
Is the Trilogy match still happening?
“You know me; I’m a gym junky,” said Fury. “I said to Frank, I said to Bob [Arum], and I said to MTK, I want the fight. I’ve been training nonstop. I want to fight. Let’s get to work. Whatever type of fight it is and where it is, let’s get it on. Who knows? Whatever type of fight it could be, let’s get it on.
“If Wilder can’t take the fight, who knows what’s next,” Fury said. “Povetkin is now my mandatory. I don’t know what’s going on with that. Is there going to be a rematch? I don’t know,” said Fury.
“Tyson said he wants to fight this side of Christmas, and we’ve got to try and make that happen,” Warren said. “Obviously, we’re contracted to fight Wilder, so we got to get that out of the way.
“So for any reason, if there’s a problem and he can get out and do something else, then obviously he wants to do that. He doesn’t want to be sitting around. He’s training really hard as he says.
“We’ll have to see what happens. We’re all up in the air at the moment. Hopefully, in the next month or so, we’ll have an idea of what the position will be. Hopefully, things will move the way that we anticipate them to,” Warren said.
Wilder likely still wants the fight with Fury, so it’s not a situation where he’ll walk away from the sport.
There’s too much money that Wilder would lose if he walks away now. It’s doubtful that wilder will walk away from all that money, even if he’s afraid of what Tyson will do to him.